HealthDay Reports: Mechanical Ventilation Needed by Most COVID-19 Patients in ICU
Amid the coronavirus pandemic and the shortage of ventilators available, a new study found that the vast majority of people in the ICU for COVID-19 treatment required mechanical ventilation.
Mechanical Ventilation Needed by Most COVID-19 Patients in ICU
MONDAY, April 13, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Most patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) requiring treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU) require mechanical ventilation, according to a study published online April 6 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Giacomo Grasselli, M.D., from Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico in Milan, and colleagues examined clinical characteristics of 1,591 consecutive patients (82 percent male) with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 requiring treatment in an ICU in the Lombardy region of Italy.
The researchers found that of the 1,043 patients with available data, 68 percent had at least one comorbidity and 49 percent had hypertension. Overall, 99 percent of the 1,300 patients with available respiratory support data needed respiratory support, including 88 and 11 percent who received mechanical ventilation and noninvasive ventilation, respectively.