PLoS ONE (Jan 2022)

Clinical characteristics, systemic complications, and in-hospital outcomes for patients with COVID-19 in Latin America. LIVEN-Covid-19 study: A prospective, multicenter, multinational, cohort study.

  • Luis F Reyes,
  • Alirio Bastidas,
  • Paula O Narváez,
  • Daniela Parra-Tanoux,
  • Yuli V Fuentes,
  • Cristian C Serrano-Mayorga,
  • Valentina Ortíz,
  • Eder L Caceres,
  • Gustavo Ospina-Tascon,
  • Ana M Díaz,
  • Manuel Jibaja,
  • Magdalena Vera,
  • Edwin Silva,
  • Luis Antonio Gorordo-Delsol,
  • Francesca Maraschin,
  • Fabio Varón-Vega,
  • Ricardo Buitrago,
  • Marcela Poveda,
  • Lina M Saucedo,
  • Elisa Estenssoro,
  • Guillermo Ortíz,
  • Nicolás Nin,
  • Luis E Calderón,
  • Gina S Montaño,
  • Aldair J Chaar,
  • Fernanda García,
  • Vanessa Ramírez,
  • Fabricio Picoita,
  • Cristian Peláez,
  • Luis Unigarro,
  • Gilberto Friedman,
  • Laura Cucunubo,
  • Alejandro Bruhn,
  • Glenn Hernández,
  • Ignacio Martin-Loeches,
  • LIVEN-Covid-19 Investigators

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265529
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 3
p. e0265529

Abstract

Read online

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has spread worldwide, and almost 396 million people have been infected around the globe. Latin American countries have been deeply affected, and there is a lack of data in this regard. This study aims to identify the clinical characteristics, in-hospital outcomes, and factors associated with ICU admission due to COVID-19. Furthermore, to describe the functional status of patients at hospital discharge after the acute episode of COVID-19.Material and methodsThis was a prospective, multicenter, multinational observational cohort study of subjects admitted to 22 hospitals within Latin America. Data were collected prospectively. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize patients, and multivariate regression was carried out to identify factors associated with severe COVID-19.ResultsA total of 3008 patients were included in the study. A total of 64.3% of patients had severe COVID-19 and were admitted to the ICU. Patients admitted to the ICU had a higher mean (SD) 4C score (10 [3] vs. 7 [3)], pConclusionsThis study confirms that patients with SARS CoV-2 in the Latin American population had a lower mortality rate than previously reported. Systemic complications are frequent in patients admitted to the ICU due to COVID-19, as previously described in high-income countries.