PLoS ONE (Jan 2020)

Outcomes of mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19 associated respiratory failure.

  • Christopher S King,
  • Dhwani Sahjwani,
  • A Whitney Brown,
  • Saad Feroz,
  • Paula Cameron,
  • Erik Osborn,
  • Mehul Desai,
  • Svetolik Djurkovic,
  • Aditya Kasarabada,
  • Rachel Hinerman,
  • James Lantry,
  • Oksana A Shlobin,
  • Kareem Ahmad,
  • Vikramjit Khangoora,
  • Shambhu Aryal,
  • A Claire Collins,
  • Alan Speir,
  • Steven Nathan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242651
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 11
p. e0242651

Abstract

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PurposeThe outcomes of patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation for COVID-19 remain poorly defined. We sought to determine clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with COVID-19 managed with invasive mechanical ventilation in an appropriately resourced US health care system.MethodsOutcomes of COVID-19 infected patients requiring mechanical ventilation treated within the Inova Health System between March 5, 2020 and April 26, 2020 were evaluated through an electronic medical record review.Results1023 COVID-19 positive patients were admitted to the Inova Health System during the study period. Of these, 164 (16.0%) were managed with invasive mechanical ventilation. All patients were followed to definitive disposition. 70/164 patients (42.7%) had died and 94/164 (57.3%) were still alive. Deceased patients were older (median age of 66 vs. 55, p ConclusionMortality of patients with COVID-19 requiring invasive mechanical ventilation is high, with particularly daunting mortality seen in patients of advanced age, even in a well-resourced health care system. A substantial proportion of patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation were not of advanced age, and this group had a reasonable chance for recovery.