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June 16, 2022
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Disability outcomes similar at 6 months for survivors of COVID-19 vs. other critical illnesses

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The incidence of new disability and related outcomes at 6 months was similar between patients mechanically ventilated for COVID-19-related acute respiratory failure and other critically ill patients without COVID-19, researchers reported.

“This study has shown that screening of premorbid functional status is important for all survivors of critical illness because of acute respiratory failure,” Carol L. Hodgson, MD, from the department of intensive care and hyperbaric medicine at the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre at the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and the department of physiotherapy at The Alfred in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and colleagues wrote in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. “The rate of new disability and new problems was similar regardless of a diagnosis of COVID-19.”

Incidence of death or new disability at 6 months among patients with and without COVID-19-related acute respiratory failure
Data were derived from Hodgson CL, et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2022;doi:10.1164/rccm.202110-2335OC.

This study included 120 critically ill patients with COVID-19-related acute respiratory failure admitted to ICUs in Australia from March 2020 to April 2021 and 199 patients with acute respiratory failure unrelated to COVID-19 from August 2017 to January 2019. All patients received at least 24 hours of mechanical ventilation.

One death occurred in the group with COVID-19 and six deaths occurred in the group without COVID-19.

Patients with COVID-19 were older (62 vs. 58 years; P = .019), had lower prevalence and severity of preexisting disability (1.8% vs. 41.3%; P < .001) and had a lower Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score (17 vs. 19; P = .011) compared with patients without COVID-19.

Patients with COVID-19 also had a longer duration of mechanical ventilation compared with those without COVID-19 (12 vs. 4.8 days; P < .001).
Both patients with and without COVID-19 had similar 180-day mortality (32.5% vs. 35.2%; P = .715).

Researchers observed similar mortality incidence or new disability incidence at 180 days between patients with COVID-19 and those without (62.4% vs. 66%; P = .583).

“The global pandemic has highlighted the importance of early detection and screening for new disabilities, functional impairment and ongoing symptoms for survivors of acute respiratory failure,” the researchers wrote. “Survivors with new disability should be referred to appropriate services after hospital discharge to enhance recovery.”