Intensive Care Unit Mortality Trends during the First Two Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Greece: A Multi-Center Retrospective Study
Paraskevi C. Fragkou,
Sotirios P. Karagiannis,
Dimitra Dimopoulou,
Sotiria Kefala,
Fotini Fligou,
Parisis Gallos,
Edison Jahaj,
Angeliki Bellou,
Evangelia Koukaki,
Eleni Magira,
Philippos Orfanos,
Georgios Papathanakos,
Athanasios Papathanasiou,
Emmanouil Pediaditis,
Konstantinos Pontikis,
Nikoletta Rovina,
Katerina Vaporidi,
Menelaos Xenikakis,
Maria Theodorakopoulou,
Anastasia Kotanidou
Affiliations
Paraskevi C. Fragkou
First Department of Critical Care and Pulmonary Diseases, Evangelismos General Hospital of Athens, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece
Sotirios P. Karagiannis
First Department of Critical Care and Pulmonary Diseases, Evangelismos General Hospital of Athens, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece
Dimitra Dimopoulou
Second Department of Pediatrics, “Aghia Sophia” Children’s Hospital, 11527 Athens, Greece
Sotiria Kefala
Division of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece
Fotini Fligou
Division of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece
Parisis Gallos
Computational Biomedicine Laboratory, Department of Digital Systems, University of Piraeus, 18534 Piraeus, Greece
Edison Jahaj
First Department of Critical Care and Pulmonary Diseases, Evangelismos General Hospital of Athens, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece
Angeliki Bellou
Division of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece
Evangelia Koukaki
Intensive Care Unit, First Department of Respiratory Medicine, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Sotiria Chest Hospital, 11527 Athens, Greece
Eleni Magira
First Department of Critical Care and Pulmonary Diseases, Evangelismos General Hospital of Athens, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece
Philippos Orfanos
Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
Georgios Papathanakos
Department of Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital of Ioannina, 45500 Ioannina, Greece
Athanasios Papathanasiou
Department of Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital of Ioannina, 45500 Ioannina, Greece
Emmanouil Pediaditis
Department of Intensive Care Unit, University Hospital of Heraklion, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 70013 Heraklion, Greece
Konstantinos Pontikis
Intensive Care Unit, First Department of Respiratory Medicine, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Sotiria Chest Hospital, 11527 Athens, Greece
Nikoletta Rovina
Intensive Care Unit, First Department of Respiratory Medicine, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Sotiria Chest Hospital, 11527 Athens, Greece
Katerina Vaporidi
Department of Intensive Care Unit, University Hospital of Heraklion, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 70013 Heraklion, Greece
Menelaos Xenikakis
Department of Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital of Ioannina, 45500 Ioannina, Greece
Maria Theodorakopoulou
First Department of Critical Care and Pulmonary Diseases, Evangelismos General Hospital of Athens, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece
Anastasia Kotanidou
First Department of Critical Care and Pulmonary Diseases, Evangelismos General Hospital of Athens, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 10676 Athens, Greece
Data on COVID-19 mortality among patients in intensive care units (ICUs) from Eastern and/or Southern European countries, including Greece, are limited. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ICU mortality trends among critically ill COVID-19 patients during the first two years of the pandemic in Greece and to further investigate if certain patients’ clinical characteristics contributed to this outcome. We conducted a multi-center retrospective observational study among five large university hospitals in Greece, between February 2020 and January 2022. All adult critically ill patients with confirmed COVID-19 disease who required ICU admission for at least 24 h were eligible. In total, 1462 patients (66.35% males) were included in this study. The mean age of this cohort was 64.9 (±13.27) years old. The 28-day mortality rate was 35.99% (n = 528), while the overall in-hospital mortality was 50.96% (n = 745). Cox regression analysis demonstrated that older age (≥65 years old), a body mass index within the normal range, and a delay in ICU admission from symptom onset, as well as worse baseline clinical severity scores upon ICU admission, were associated with a greater risk of death. Mortality of critically ill COVID-19 patients was high during the first two years of the pandemic in Greece but comparable to other countries. Risk factors for death presented in this study are not different from those that have already been described for COVID-19 in other studies.
