COVID-19 Mortality Decreased Significantly, Show Shows

Sep, 2020 - By SMI

The researchers found that ICU mortality in patients with COVID-19 (who completed ICU admissions) was 41.6% at the end of May 2020.

A systematic review of published studies shows that mortality of COVID-19 (the novel coronavirus) patients admitted in intensive care units (ICUs) has dropped significantly from around 60% at the end of March 2020 to 42% at the end of May 2020. The research was led by Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS and the University of Bristol and published in July 2020 in the Anaesthesia journal. Moreover, the research shows that ICU mortality is similar across the three continents such as North America, Asia, and Europe.

The survival of ICU patients has significantly improved with time. The researchers looked at the Cochrane, PubMed, EMBASE, and MEDLINE data up to May 31, 2020, for readings reporting ICU mortality in adult patients with COVID-19. The primary outcome measure was the proportion of complete ICU admissions in ICU deaths, either by discharge from the ICU or death. During this research, the team identified around 10,150 COVID-19 patients and around 24 observational studies from centers across North America, Asia, and Europe.

The researchers found that ICU mortality in patients with COVID-19 (who completed ICU admissions) was 41.6% at the end of May 2020. This signifies a drop of around a third from the 59.5% ICU mortality observed in the studies by the end of March 2020. Severe illness linked to the novel coronavirus can be prolonged, with around 20% of ICU admissions in the United Kingdom lasting over 28 days, and 9% over 42 days. Moreover, the ICU mortality rate did not vary across continents, despite some strong evidence of variation in the thresholds for their application, treatments delivered, and admission criteria. According to the researchers, no specific treatment reduces the mortality of patients admitted to the ICU.