BMJ Open Respiratory Research (May 2020)

Is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) a new standard of care for type 1 respiratory failure in COVID-19 patients? A retrospective observational study of a dedicated COVID-19 CPAP service

  • Mike Beadsworth,
  • Gareth Jones,
  • Kathryn Haigh,
  • Rebecca Nightingale,
  • Manish Gautam,
  • Nneka Nwosu,
  • Farheen Kutubudin,
  • Joe Lewis,
  • Frederick Frost,
  • Deborah Brown,
  • Michael Abouyannis,
  • Peter Hampshire,
  • Stephen Aston,
  • Hassan Burhan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjresp-2020-000639
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1

Abstract

Read online

The aim of this case series is to describe and evaluate our experience of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) to treat type 1 respiratory failure in patients with COVID-19. CPAP was delivered in negative pressure rooms in the newly repurposed infectious disease unit. We report a cohort of 24 patients with type 1 respiratory failure and COVID-19 admitted to the Royal Liverpool Hospital between 1 April and 30 April 2020. Overall, our results were positive; we were able to safely administer CPAP outside the walls of a critical care or high dependency unit environment and over half of patients (58%) avoided mechanical ventilation and a total of 19 out of 24 (79%) have survived and been discharged from our care.