COVID-19–Associated Mortality in Critically Ill Patients Declined During the Pandemic's Early Surge

In an academic health system, decreasing mortality may have been related to system-wide cooperative efforts to improve critical care practices.

Risk for death from COVID-19 is high in critically ill patients; for example, mortality was 41.4% among mechanically ventilated patients in the placebo arm of the RECOVERY trial (NEJM JW Infect Dis Sep 2020 and N Engl J Med 2020 Jul 17; [e-pub]). Now, investigators at a multihospital academic healthcare system in Pennsylvania report trends in outcomes for 468 patients with COVID-19 (median age, 65) who were admitted to intensive care units for respiratory failure or shock from March 1 to May 11, 2020. Among these patients, 68.2% required mechanical ventilation, 25.9% required vasopressor support, and 28-day in-hospital mortality was 29.9% with a median of 8 days in the ICU.

Mortality decreased from 43.5% during the study's first 15-day perio…

Reviewing Author

Daniel Kaul, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNobelpharma; Pfizer

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican Society of Transplantation (Program Committee)

Daniel Kaul, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNobelpharma; Pfizer

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican Society of Transplantation (Program Committee)

COVID-19–Associated Mortality in Critically Ill Patients Declined During the Pandemic's Early Surge

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Reviewing Author