Assessing the need for transfer to the intensive care unit for Coronavirus-19 disease: Epidemiology and risk factors.
Respir Med
; 174: 106203, 2020.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33147562
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Although many patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) require direct admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), some are sent after admission. Clinicians require an understanding of this phenomenon and various risk stratification approaches for recognizing these subjects.METHODS:
We examined all Covid-19 patients sent initially to a ward who subsequently required care in the ICU. We examined the timing transfer and attempted to develop a risk score based on baseline variables to predict progressive disease. We evaluated the utility of the CURB-65 score at identifying the need for ICU transfer.RESULTS:
The cohort included 245 subjects (mean age 59.0 ± 14.2 years, 61.2% male) and 20% were eventually sent to the ICU. The median time to transfer was 2.5 days. Approximately 1/3rd of patients were not moved until day 4 or later and the main reason for transfer (79.2%) was worsening respiratory failure. A baseline absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) of ≤0.8 103/ml and a serum ferritin ≥1000 ng/ml were independently associated with ICU transfer. Co-morbid illnesses did not correlate with eventual ICU care. Neither a risk score based on a low ALC and/or high ferritin nor the CURB-65 score performed well at predicting need for transfer.CONCLUSION:
Covid-19 patients admitted to general wards face a significant risk for deterioration necessitating ICU admission and respiratory failure can occur late in this disease. Neither baseline clinical factors nor the CURB-65 score perform well as screening tests to categorize these subjects as likely to progress to ICU care.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Patient Transfer
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
/
Intensive Care Units
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
/
Screening_studies
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Respir Med
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country: