SepsEast Registry indicates high mortality associated with COVID-19 caused acute respiratory failure in Central-Eastern European intensive care units

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic caused unprecedented research activity all around the world but publications from Central-Eastern European countries remain scarce. Therefore, our aim was to characterise the features of the pandemic in the intensive care units (ICUs) among members of the SepsEast (Central-Eastern European Sepsis Forum) initiative. We conducted a retrospective, international, multicentre study between March 2020 and February 2021. All adult patients admitted to the ICU with pneumonia caused by COVID-19 were enrolled. Data on baseline and treatment characteristics, organ support and mortality were collected. Eleven centres from six countries provided data from 2139 patients. Patient characteristics were: median 68, [IQR 60–75] years of age; males: 67%; body mass index: 30.1 [27.0–34.7]; and 88% comorbidities. Overall mortality was 55%, which increased from 2020 to 2021 (p = 0.004). The major causes of death were respiratory (37%), cardiovascular (26%) and sepsis with multiorgan failure (21%). 1061 patients received invasive mechanical ventilation (mortality: 66%) without extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (n = 54). The rest of the patients received non-invasive ventilation (n = 129), high flow nasal oxygen (n = 317), conventional oxygen therapy (n = 122), as the highest level of ventilatory support, with mortality of 50%, 39% and 22%, respectively. This is the largest COVID-19 dataset from Central-Eastern European ICUs to date. The high mortality observed especially in those receiving invasive mechanical ventilation renders the need of establishing national–international ICU registries and audits in the region that could provide high quality, transparent data, not only during the pandemic, but also on a regular basis.

Comparison of perception of stress and consumption of anxiolytics in hospital and out-hospital conditions: a cross-sectional study

“…As previously mentioned, the boundaries between the individual roles and tasks of health professions are being blurred by the increasing temporal and quantitative requirements. Being a nurse today means taking over part of the work of a doctor, but also vice versa due to the lack of nursing staff, although experience from intensive care units where highly educated and motivated nurses work shows possible positive solutions ( 26 ). In addition, on the example of health workers in Croatia, it can be concluded that the experience of stress and the use of anxiolytics are not related to the extent that could be expected before verifiable statistical measurements.…”

“…Considering the amount of data obtained, statistical analyses are summarized, and it could continue to examine the correlation and significance of each variable based on many other goals that are currently not in the focus of this paper but represent a good guideline for continuing research on a sample of the total population of employees in the health care system. All of this has additionally proved indispensable in the working conditions of health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic ( 26 , 32 ).…”

Factors associated with mortality in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 admitted to a tertiary hospital in Lambayeque, Peru, during the first wave of the pandemic

“…The study showed that sepsis was a predictor of mortality. The study by Benes J. et al in 2022 reported that sepsis and respiratory failure accounted for about 75% of deaths in patients with COVID-19; as a consequence, they increased ICU stays, necessitated the administration of vasopressor and inotropic drugs, and led to renal impairment [ 32 , 33 ]. This could be explained by the fact that sepsis results in life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to COVID-19 infection [ 34 ].…”

A kórházi túlélést meghatározó tényezők a COVID–19-járvány 3. és 4. hulláma idején súlyos koronavírus-fertőzéssel intenzív osztályra felvett betegekben

“…Vizsgálatunk az egyik első tudományos közlemény a koronavírus-járvány magyarországi, intenzív osztályon ellátott betegeinek demográfiai és kimeneteli jellemzőiről. Hazai intenzív osztályos adatok a nemzetközi irodalom-ban is csak elvétve találhatók [12]. A túlélésre kedvező hatással a vizsgált paraméterek közül az alacsonyabb APACHE II.…”