Clinical outcomes during and beyond different COVID-19 critical illness variant periods compared with other lower respiratory tract infections.
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Hedberg P, Baltzer N, Granath F, Fored M, Mårtensson J, Nauclér P
Crit Care 27 (1) 427 [2023-11-06; online 2023-11-06]
It is yet to be better understood how outcomes during and after the critical illness potentially differ between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants from other lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs). We aimed to compare outcomes in adults admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the Wild-type, Alpha, Delta, and Omicron periods with individuals admitted with other LRTI. Population-based cohort study in Stockholm, Sweden, using health registries with high coverage, including ICU-admitted adults from 1 January 2016 to 15 September 2022. Outcomes were in-hospital mortality, 180-day post-discharge mortality, 180-day hospital readmission, 180-day days alive and at home (DAAH), and incident diagnoses registered during follow-up. The number of ICU admitted individuals were 1421 Wild-type, 551 Alpha, 190 Delta, 223 Omicron, and 2380 LRTI. In-hospital mortality ranged from 28% (n = 665) in the LRTI cohort to 35% (n = 77) in the Delta cohort. The adjusted cause-specific hazard ratio (CSHR) compared with the LRTI cohort was 1.33 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.16-1.53) in the Wild-type cohort, 1.53 (1.28-1.82) in the Alpha cohort, 1.70 (1.30-2.24) in the Delta cohort, and 1.59 (1.24-2.02) in the Omicron cohort. Among patients discharged alive from their COVID-19 hospitalization, the post-discharge mortality rates were lower (1-3%) compared with the LRTI cohort (9%), and the risk of hospital readmission was lower (CSHRs ranging from 0.42 to 0.68). Moreover, all COVID-19 cohorts had compared with the LRTI cohort more DAAH after compared with before the critical illness. Overall, COVID-19 critical was associated with an increased hazard of in-hospital mortality, but among those discharged alive from the hospital, less severe long-term outcomes were observed compared with other LRTIs.
PubMed 37932793
DOI 10.1186/s13054-023-04722-0
Crossref 10.1186/s13054-023-04722-0
pmc: PMC10629059
pii: 10.1186/s13054-023-04722-0