Objective To analyze the current status and risk factors of common infections in patients with chronic diseases complicated with frailty in the Department of Geriatrics.

Methods A total of 500 patients admitted to the geriatrics department due to bacterial infection were included, and those with infection complicated with organ failure such as heart and kidney were excluded. One hundred and eighty-eight elderly patients with infectious diseases and chronic diseases complicated with frailty were selected as the research objects. The general conditions of the patients (including name, gender, smoking, drinking, etc.) etiological examination, infection site, distribution of disease types, course of antibacterial drug treatment and other relevant data were retrospectively analzyed. Analysis of variance was used to study the risk factors of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), and multiple linear regression analysis was performed for factors with statistical differences. The risk factors influencing the severity of SIRS were investiagted.

Results The respiratory system, urinary system and digestive system are the three most common infection sites in elderly patients with chronic diseases complicated with frailty. Among the 188 patients, the main pathogenic bacteria were Gram-negative bacilli, followed by Gram-positive cocci. The incidence of infections varied among different underlying diseases. Patients with two or more diseases accounted for the largest proportion and had the highest incidence of infections. The course of treatment with an average hospital stay of ≤ 7 days was the most widely applied (accounting for 81.52%), followed by 8-14 days (22.50%), and the course of treatment with a length of ≥14 days was the least (25.00%). Meanwhile, analysis of variance was conducted on the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) of the elderly inpatients enrolled in the group. The results showed that there were statistically significant among the groups in terms of the number of comorbidities, nutritional status, age and frailty (P ＜ 0.05). The results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that there were statistically significant in the effects of the number of concurrent diseases, advanced age, frailty and malnutrition on the severity of SIRS (P ＜ 0.05).

Conclusions The incidence of infection in elderly patients with chronic diseases complicated with frailty is high, which needs to be paid attention to by society and hospitals. Early attention should be paid to the age, number of comorbidities, nutritional and frailty status of patients to reduce the incidence of SIRS, and the comprehensive measures