COVID-19: Better understanding of complications and disease progression in hospitals
Systematic comparison of 213 COVID-19 patients treated at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg published in advance
At times, the Medical Center - University of Freiburg treated the most COVID-19 patients in Germany. The hospital also has a high level of expertise in the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and in ventilation with lung replacement machines (ECMO). In cooperation with the Institute of Medical Biometry and Statistics at the University of Freiburg, experts from the University of Freiburg have systematically investigated the risk factors that determine the course of COVID-19 diseases in a hospital with interdisciplinary patient care in a study and published it in advance on the medRxiv preprint server.
"The data on the mortality of COVID-19 patients who are so seriously ill that they need to be treated in hospital has so far varied greatly. As a hospital with a high number of cases, we have now compiled our experience," says the lead author of the study, Prof. Dr. Siegbert Rieg, senior physician in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Department of Medicine II at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg.
Course of therapy and risk factors
From February 25 to May 8, 2020, a total of 213 COVID-19 patients were treated at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg. On average, the patients were 65 years old and 61 percent were male. A total of 70 of those affected were treated in intensive care, 57 of them had to be ventilated and 23 were temporarily connected to a lung replacement machine. By mid-June, 161 of those affected had been discharged and 51 had died. The probability of dying within 90 days was 24% overall and was strongly influenced by the age and gender of the patients. In the intensive care units, the probability of death was 47 percent, and 57 percent among those on artificial respiration.
The most common complications in intensive care patients included multiple organ failure, often with renal failure requiring dialysis, septic shock and pulmonary embolism. "As long as there are no highly effective drugs against COVID-19, it is of utmost importance to research strategies to prevent or mitigate these life-threatening complications," says last author Dr. Paul Biever, intensive care physician at the Department of Internal Medicine III at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg.
Original title of the study: COVID-19 in-hospital mortality and mode of death in a dynamic and non-restricted tertiary care model in Germany
DOI: 10.1101/2020.07.22.20160127
Link to the study: https://medrxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.07.22.20160127v1
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Siegbert Rieg
Senior Physician
Department of Infectiology
Department of Medicine II (Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Endocrinology, Infectiology)
Uniklinik Freiburg
Phone: 0761 270-18240
siegbert.rieg@uniklinik-freiburg.de
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