Impacts of respiratory support methods on the prognosis of COVID-19 patients treated in the intensive care unit.

Aim: The goal of this study was to investigate the impacts of respiratory support methods and duration of intubation on the prognosis in COVID-19 patients treated in a tertiary care center's intensive care unit (ICU). Material and Methods: The data was gathered from the medical files of 106 adult COVID-19 patients treated in the ICU of our tertiary care center for this retrospective analysis. Results: The average age was 65.4 +/- 14.9 years (24 to 93), and the rate of mortality was 64.1 % (68 /106) in our series. The duration of ICU stay was 16.9 +/- 11.41 days (range: 1 to 60). The respiratory support methods used included continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) (n=42, 39,6%), high flow nasal oxygen HF (n=28, 26.24%), urgent intubation (n=26, 24.5%), nasal oxygen support (n=6, 5,6%), and both CPAP and high flow nasal oxygen (n=4, 3,7%), respectively. No significant relationship was detected between prognostic outcome and duration of intubation (p=0.349), and duration of ICU stay (p=0.272). Discussion: Critically ill patients with COVID-19 pneumonia have a high fatality rate. A well-established ICU and awareness of the implications of clinical data can maintain clinical standards and continue evidence-based practices that keep fatality rates low.