Abstract
•Diabetes mellitus (57.7%) was the most common coexisting illness followed by hypertension (53.6%) and dyslipidemia (22.7%).•Among common blood group types, A+ was associated with higher 30 days-ICU mortality as well as thrombosis during ICU stay.•Patients who developed acute kidney Injury (AKI) or required mechanical ventilation (MV) within 24 h of ICU admission, were associated with higher 30-day ICU mortality.•The most common complication during ICU stay was respiratory failure that required MV (71.4%), followed by acute kidney injury (AKI), thrombosis and liver injury.•The median time to reach the viral load peak and to be undetected was seven and thirteen days respectively from the first positive sample.
Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) manifested by a broad spectrum of symptoms, ranging from asymptomatic manifestations to severe illness and death. The purpose of the study was to extensively describe the clinical features and outcomes in critically ill patients with COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia.
This was a multicenter, non-interventional cohort study for all critically ill patients aged 18 years or older, admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) between March 1 to August 31, 2020, with an objectively confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. The diagnosis of COVID-19 was confirmed by Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) on nasopharyngeal and/or throat swabs. Multivariate logistic regression and generalized linear regression were used. We considered a P value of <0.05 statistically significant.
A total of 560 patients met the inclusion criteria. An extensive list of clinical features was associated with higher 30-day ICU mortality rates, such as requiring mechanical ventilation (MV) or developing acute kidney injury within 24 hours of ICU admission, higher body temperature, white blood cells, blood glucose level, serum creatinine, fibrinogen, procalcitonin, creatine phosphokinase, aspartate aminotransferase, and total iron-binding capacity. During ICU stay, the most common complication was respiratory failure that required MV (71.4%), followed by acute kidney injury (AKI) and thrombosis with a proportion of 46.8% and 11.4%, respectively.
Among patients with COVID-19 who were admitted to the ICU, several variables were associated with an increased risk of ICU mortality at 30 days. Respiratory failure that required MV, AKI, and thrombosis were the most common complications during ICU stay.