To analyze the clinical characteristics and differences of elderly patients hospitalized in the Department of Neurology and Cardiology in a hospital in Shanghai within one year, providing support for the medical decision on diagnosis and treatment strategy of elderly patients with common coexistence of chronic and multiple diseases.

We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 636 patients aged over 65 years, who had been hospitalized and treated in the Department of Neurology and Cardiology of Zhoupu Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Medical College within one year from January 2012 to December 2019. The proportion of primary and secondary diagnoses, different hospitalization days between departments, the composition ratio of cases in different interval days, and the improvement and cure rate in the two departments were compared by χ² test.

In 636 patients, the top three primary diagnoses in the Department of Cardiology, accounting for 91.98% of them, were heart disease, hypertension, and cerebrovascular disease; in the Department of Neurology, the top three primary diagnoses, accounting for 90.41% of them, were cerebrovascular disease, paroxysmal and paroxysmal diseases, and symptoms and signs involving cognition, feeling, emotional state, and behavior. Cardiovascular disease in the secondary diagnosis of Neurology and cerebrovascular disease in the secondary diagnosis of cardiology were statistically different (χ²=373.22, P<0.001); all the patients had been diagnosed with comorbidity (2 or more diagnoses) in the Department of Neurology, but there was a single diagnosis (3.30%, 21/636) in the Department of Cardiology, and the difference was statistically significant (χ²=85.83, P<0.001); In the Department of Cardiology, compared to those patients were initially diagnosed in the Department of Neurology, the patients were initially diagnosed in the Department of Cardiology had a higher rate of uncured or death (3.69% vs 0.96%) and a lower rate of improvement or cure (96.31% vs 99.04%), and the difference was statistically significant (χ²=5.14, P=0.023). In the Department of Neurology, compared to those patients were initially diagnosed in the Department of cardiology, the proportion of uncured or death in the those being initially diagnosed in the Department of Neurology (8.04% vs 0) was higher, and the proportion of improvement or cure was lower (χ²=27.19, P<0.001), and there was statistically significant difference(91.96% vs 100%). There was no significant difference in hospitalization days and outcomes between the group with an interval of 180 < n ≤ 365 days and the group with an interval of ≤ 180 days (all P > 0.05). The proportion of patients with cardiovascular disease diagnosed in the Department of Neurology in the group with interval ≤ 90 days is higher, and the difference was a statistically significant (χ²=5.40, P=0.020); The proportion of patients with cerebrovascular diseases diagnosed in the Department of Cardiology in the interval ≤ 90 days group was higher, and the difference was statistically significant (χ²=8.31, P=0.004).

There are still some improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiocerebrovascular comorbidity in specialized department of cardiology or neurology . Promoting the concept of joint diagnosis and treatment, actively improving relevant systems, and carrying out multidisciplinary teams may be an effective exploration for diagnosing and treating of elderly patients with chronic diseases.