Clinical Characteristics and Evolution of Ventilated Patients Invasively During the First Year of COVID-19 - Descriptive-Observational Study at a Public-School Hospital of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract

Introduction: SARS CoV-2 infection can cause mild respiratory symptoms to acute respiratory failure, characterized by severe hypoxemia and bilateral infiltrates that require intensive care. Being a new entity with little knowledge in our country, we sought to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics, as well as the mortality of patients with mechanical ventilation diagnosed with COVID-19 infection admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Methods: We conducted a retrospective, observational, descriptive study that included patients over 18 years, diagnosed with COVID-19 infection that required invasive mechanical ventilation at the Intensive Care Unit of the Hospital de Clínicas “José de San Martín” in Buenos Aires City during the period between March 25, 2020, and March 25, 2021. Patients under 18 years of age and those who received IMV for more than 24 hours before admission to the ICU were excluded from the study.
Results: 128 patients underwent invasive mechanical ventilation throughout the study time with 60.94% mortality. The median age was 68 years old (57-76) and the majority were male (57.03%). History of cardiac hypertension was the most commonly found comorbidity (67.94%), followed by diabetes and obesity (23.43%). The Median for the APACHE II score was 14 at ICU admission (10-18). The time from symptoms to IMV was 7 days (4-11). The median days of IMV were 14 days (7, 5-23) and the median ICU stay was 16 days (10, 75-26).
Conclusion: This study will allow us to know the epidemiological, clinical and mortality characteristics during the first year of the pandemic, which could facilitate the planning of future therapeutic strategies and the use of resources. Randomized prospective studies are needed to gain more knowledge about the approach to this population.