The Impact of CoronaVac Vaccination on 28-day Mortality Rate of Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19 in Türkiye.

Background: Vaccines against coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) have been effective in preventing symptomatic diseases, hospitalizations, and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. However, data regarding the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in reducing mortality among critically ill patients with COVID-19 remains unclear. Aims: To determine the vaccination status and investigate the impact of the COVID-19 vaccine on the 28-day mortality in critically ill patients with COVID-19. Study Design: Multicenter prospective observational clinical study. Methods: This study was conducted in 60 hospitals with ICUs managing critically ill patients with COVID-19. Patients aged ≥ 18 years with confirmed COVID-19 who were admitted to the ICU were included. The present study had two phases. The first phase was designed as a one-day point prevalence study, and demographic and clinical findings were evaluated. In the second phase, the 28-day mortality was evaluated. Results: As of August 11, 2021, 921 patients were enrolled in the study. The mean age of the patients was 65.42 ± 16.74 years, and 48.6% (n = 448) were female. Among the critically ill patients with COVID-19, 52.6% (n = 484) were unvaccinated, 7.7% (n = 71) were incompletely vaccinated, and 39.8% (n = 366) were fully vaccinated. A subgroup analysis of 817 patients who were unvaccinated (n = 484) or who had received two doses of the CoronaVac vaccine (n = 333) was performed. The 28-day mortality rate was 56.8% (n = 275) and 57.4% (n = 191) in the unvaccinated and two-dose CoronaVac groups, respectively. The 28-day mortality was associated with age, hypertension, the number of comorbidities, type of respiratory support, and APACHE II and sequential organ failure assessment scores (p < 0.05). The odds ratio for the 28-day mortality among those who had received two doses of CoronaVac was 0.591 (95% confidence interval: 0.413-0.848) (p = 0.004). Conclusion: Vaccination with at least two doses of CoronaVac within six months significantly decreased mortality in vaccinated patients than in unvaccinated patients.

Maternal and fetal near-term sheep cytokine responses to carbon dioxide pneumoperitoneum.

It is known that carbon dioxide (CO2) pneumoperitoneum induces fetal acidosis in pregnant ewes. Our aim was to determine changes of the levels of maternal and fetal cytokines interleukin-6, interleukin-8, and tumor necrosis factor alpha after CO2 pneumoperitoneum in pregnant ewes. Eight ewes with singleton pregnancies of 120 to 140 days gestation were anesthetized and intubated. Insufflation produced modest but significant maternal arterial hypercapnia (an increase of 10.7 mm Hg; P<0.001) and acidosis (a decrease in mean pH of 0.1.04; P=0.0005). Fetal pCO2 was increased by 15.3 mm Hg on average and pH was decreased by 0.11 U on average immediately after desufflation (both P<0.001). No significant difference was observed in the concentration of cytokine in the maternal or fetal blood samples. These results suggest that respiratory acidosis does not lead to the elevation of cytokines in pregnant ewes and fetuses, which may contribute to premature labor.