Open AccessCharacteristics and outcomes of 974 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units in Turkey
Author(s) -
Hülya Sungurtekin,
Cansu Özgen,
Ülkü Yalçıntaş Arslan,
Kemal Tolga Saraçoğlu,
Volkan Yarar,
Ahmet Sarı,
Ayse Turan Civraz,
Ali Aydın Altunkan,
Hilal Ayoğlu,
Nilgün Öztürk,
Nihal Bulut Yuksel,
Birgül Yelken,
Elif Bombacı,
Gökhan Kılınç,
Damla Akman,
Pınar Demir,
Ferruh Niyazi Ayoğlu,
Fulya Çiyiltepe,
Ahmet Çalışkan,
Simay Karaduman
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
annals of saudi medicine/annals of saudi medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.373
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 0975-4466
pISSN - 0256-4947
DOI - 10.5144/0256-4947.2021.318
Subject(s) - medicine , intensive care unit , intensive care , mechanical ventilation , covid-19 , retrospective cohort study , respiratory failure , sofa score , radiological weapon , emergency medicine , turkish , intensive care medicine , pediatrics , surgery , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , philosophy , linguistics
BACKGROUND: In our previous report on Turkish COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care, the 24 patients in a single ICU were elderly and mortality was high. We extended our analysis to include patients admitted to ten ICUs. OBJECTIVES: Report the demographics, clinical features, imaging findings, comorbidities, and outcomes in COVID-19 patients. DESIGN: Retrospective. SETTING: Intensive care unit. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study includes patients with clinical and radiological confirmed or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infection who were admitted to ten ICUs between 15 March and 30 June 2020. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical outcomes, therapies, and death during hospitalization SAMPLE SIZE: 974, including 571 males (58%). RESULTS: The median age (range) was 72 (21–101) years for patients who died (n=632, 64.9%) and 70 (16–99) years for patients who lived (n=432, 35.2%) (P <.001). APACHE scores, and SOFA scores were higher in patients who died than in those who survived (P <.001, both comparisons). Respiratory failure was the most common cause of hospitalization (82.5%), and respiratory failure on admission was associated with death (P =.013). Most (n=719, 73.8%) underwent invasive mechanical ventilation therapy.CONCLUSIONS: The majority of patients admitted to the ICU with a diagnosis of COVID-19 require respiratory support. LIMITATIONS: Although the Turkish Ministry of Health made recommendations for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, patient management may not have been identical in all ten units. CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None.