BACKGROUND: Efficacy of high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) over noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia is not known. We aimed to assess the incidence of invasive mechanical ventilation in patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure due to COVID-19 treated with either HFNC or NIV. METHODS: This was a single-center randomized controlled trial performed in the COVID-19 ICU of a tertiary care teaching hospital in New Delhi, India. One hundred and nine subjects with severe COVID-19 pneumonia presenting with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure were recruited and allocated to either HFNC (n 5 55) or NIV (n 5 54) arm. Primary outcome was intubation by 48 h. Secondary outcomes were improvement in oxygenation by 48 h, intubation rate at day 7, and in-hospital mortality. RESULTS: Baseline characteristics and P aO 2 /F IO 2 ratio were similar in both the groups. Intubation rate at 48 h was similar between the groups (33% NIV vs 20% HFNC, relative risk 0.6, 95% CI 0.31-1.15, P 5 .12). Intubation rate at day 7 was lower in the HFNC (27.27%) compared to the NIV group (46.29%) (relative risk 0.59, 95% CI 0.35-0.99, P 5 .045), and this difference remained significant after adjustment for the incidence of chronic kidney disease and the arterial pH (adjusted OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.17-0.93, P 5 .03). Hospital mortality was similar between HFNC (29.1%) and NIV (46.2%) group (relative risk 0.6, 95% CI 0.38-1.04, P 5 .06). CONCLUSIONS: We were not able to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement of oxygenation parameters nor of the intubation rate at 48 h between NIV and HFNC. These findings should be further tested in a larger randomized controlled trial. The study was registered at the Clinical Trials Registry of India (www.ctri.nic.in; reference number: CTRI/2020/07/026835) on July 27, 2020.

Background & objectives: In this study we describe the epidemiological data, comorbidities, clinical symptoms, severity of illness and early outcome of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from a tertiary care teaching hospital in New Delhi, India. Methods: In this preliminary analysis of a prospective observational study, all adult patients admitted to the screening intensive care unit (ICU) of the institute who fulfilled the WHO case definition of COVID-19 and confirmed to have SARS-CoV-2 infection by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction were included. Demographics, clinical data and 24 h outcome were assessed. Results: The preliminary analysis of 235 patients revealed that the mean age was 50.7±15.1 yr and 68.1 per cent were male. Fever (68.1%), cough (59.6%) and shortness of breath (71.9%) were the most common presenting symptoms. Hypertension (28.1%) and diabetes mellitus (23.3%) were the most common associated comorbid illnesses. Patients with mild, moderate, severe and critical illness were 18.3, 32.3, 31.1 and 18.3 per cent, respectively, at the time of ICU admission. The proportions (95% confidence interval) of patients requiring any form of oxygen therapy, oxygen therapy by high-flow nasal cannula and invasive mechanical ventilation were 77, 21.7 and 25.5 per cent, respectively, within 24 h of hospital admission. The 24 h ICU mortality was 8.5 per cent, and non-survivors had higher respiratory rate ( P <0.01, n=198) and lower baseline oxyhaemoglobin saturation ( P <0.001, n=198) at presentation and higher baseline serum lactate ( P <0.01, n=122), total leucocyte count ( P <0.001, n=186), absolute neutrophil count ( P <0.001, n=132), prothrombin time ( P <0.05, n=54) and INR ( P <0.05, n=54) compared to survivors. Interpretation & conclusions: Nearly half of the patients presented with severe and critical disease and required high-flow nasal oxygen or invasive mechanical ventilation at admission. Severity of the presenting respiratory illness, haematological parameters and lactate rather than age or presence of comorbidity predicted early death within 24 h.

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Infections caused by Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) lead to persistent infection in most of the times and may cause fibrosis of liver, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. At present, there is no vaccine available for prevention or treatment of it. With the development of newer and effective anti viral drugs, most of the infections are curable. But a proportion of infections may progress to cirrhosis of liver /or hepatocelllar carcinoma in spite of being cured from the infection. So, early diagnosis of HCV infections and treatment with effective antiviral drugs is required for prevention of end stage liver disease.