Excess Mortality Among Patients Hospitalized During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author(s):  
Amber K Sabbatini ◽  
Ari Robicsek ◽  
Shih-Ting Chiu ◽  
Ty J Gluckman

BACKGROUND: The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic has affected outcomes for patients with unplanned hospitalizations is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To examine changes in in-hospital mortality for patients without COVID-19 during the first 10 months of the pandemic (March 4, 2020 to December 31, 2020). DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Observational study of adults with unplanned hospitalizations at 51 hospitals across 6 Western states. EXPOSURES: Unplanned hospitalizations occurring during the spring COVID-19 surge (March 4 to May 13, 2020; Period 1), an intervening period (May 14 to October 19, 2020; Period 2), and the fall COVID-19 surge (October 20 to December 31, 2020; Period 3) were compared with a pre-COVID-19 baseline period from January 1, 2019, to March 3, 2020. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: We examined daily hospital admissions and in-hospital mortality overall and in 30 conditions. RESULTS: Unplanned hospitalizations declined steeply during Periods 1 and 3 (by 47.5% and 25% compared with baseline, respectively). Although volumes declined, adjusted in-hospital mortality rose from 2.9% in the pre-pandemic period to 3.5% in Period 1 (20.7% relative increase), returning to baseline in Period 2, and rose again to 3.4% in Period 3. Elevated mortality was seen for nearly all conditions studied during the pandemic surge periods. CONCLUSION: Pandemic COVID-19 surges were associated with higher rates of in-hospital mortality among patients without COVID-19, suggesting disruptions in care patterns for patients with many common acute and chronic illnesses.

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fateme Nateghi ◽  
Konstantinos Makris ◽  
Pierre Delanaye ◽  
Hans Pottel

Abstract Background and Aims Studies have shown that millions of hospitalized patients suffer from Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) per year which increases mortality risk for these patients. Different definitions for AKI have been proposed during the past years such as RIFLE (2002) and AKIN (2004). In 2012, KDIGO published a clinical practice guideline harmonizing AKIN and RIFLE into one general guideline which classifies AKI into 3 stages, where stage 1 is defined as an absolute increase of SCr ≥ 0.3 mg/dl over 48 hours or a relative increase in SCr ≥ 50% from baseline within the previous 7 days. A recent study [Sparrow et al., 2019] evaluated the impact of further categorizing AKI stage 1 into 2 stages based on SCr criteria. The study separates KDIGO AKI stage 1 and AKIN stage 1 into 2 stages (KDIGO-4 and AKIN-4) based on the different SCr criteria. Having different AKI definitions makes it challenging to analyze AKI incidence and associated outcomes among studies. The present study aimed to investigate the incidence of AKI events defined by 4 different definitions (standard AKIN and KDIGO, and modified AKIN-4 and KDIGO-4) and its association with in-hospital mortality. Method Retrospective clinical data available for all adult (≥18 years old) hospital admissions to a local health district in Athens, Greece between October 1999 and March 2019 was used in the analysis. We excluded patients whose time between admission and discharge was less than 7 days. Also, patients with less than 5 Scr measurements were omitted from the analysis resulting in the final cohort of 7242 admissions. We used the AKIN, KDIGO, AKIN-4, and KDIGO-4 definitions to check the incidence of AKI. As our second goal, we assessed associations of AKI-events with in-hospital mortality, adjusted for characteristics (age, sex, AKI staging) using multivariable logistic regression. Results The incidence of in-hospital AKI using the modified KDIGO-4 was 6.72% for stage 1a, 15.71% for stage 1b, 8.06% for stage 2, and 2.97% for stage 3; however, these percentages for AKIN-4 were 11.5%, 5.83%,1.75%, and 0.33% for stage 1a, stage 1b, stage 2, and stage 3, respectively. Using the standard KDIGO and AKIN definition, 19.08 and 14.05 % developed stage 1, respectively. To find the association between AKI stages and in-hospital mortality, we considered the most severe stage of AKI reached by a patient. Results of logistic regression models show that in-hospital mortality increased as the stage of AKI events increased for both KDIGO-4 and AKIN-4 (Table 1). Table 2 shows the same results using the original KDIGO and AKIN definitions. Conclusion The results of both definitions (AKIN-4 and KDIGO-4) show a significant association with mortality, but KDIGO-4 has a larger odds ratio meaning that AKI classification based on KDIGO-4 has a stronger association with mortality than AKI classification based on AKIN-4. However, based on our results, splitting stage 1 to stage 1a and stage 1b does not seem to make a difference; hence, using KDIGO-4 as a replacement for KDIGO would not have a significant impact on capturing AKI events.


2019 ◽  
Vol 99 (8) ◽  
pp. 1089-1097 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire J Tipping ◽  
Carol L Hodgson ◽  
Meg Harrold ◽  
Terry Chan ◽  
Anne E Holland

Abstract Background As the older population increases, more older people are exposed to trauma. Frailty can be used to highlight patients at risk of a poorer outcome. Objective The objectives of this study were to compare 2 frailty measures with regard to concordance, floor and ceiling effects, and construct and predictive validity and to determine which is more valid and clinically applicable in a critically ill trauma population. Design This was a prospective observational study. Methods Patients were included if admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) under a trauma medical unit and ≥ 50 years old. Frailty was determined using 2 frailty measures, the Frailty Phenotype (FP) and Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS). Results One hundred people were enrolled; their mean age was 69.2 years (SD = 10.4) and 81% had major trauma (as determined with the Injury Severity Score). Frailty was identified with the FP in 22 participants and with the CFS in 13 participants. The 2 frailty measures had an excellent correlation (Spearman rank correlation coefficient = 0.77; 95% confidence interval = 0.66–0.85). Both the FP and the CFS had large floor effects but no ceiling effects. The FP and CFS showed construct validity, with frailty being significantly associated with increasing age, requiring an aid to mobilize, and more falls and hospital admissions. Frailty on the FP was predictive of ICU and hospital mortality, whereas frailty on the CFS was predictive of hospital mortality. Limitations The limitations of this study include the use of a single site, small sample size, and collection of frailty measures retrospectively. Conclusions Measuring frailty in a trauma ICU population was feasible, with excellent correlation between the 2 frailty measures. Both showed aspects of construct and predictive validity; however, the FP identified frailty in more participants and was associated with more comorbidities and higher mortality at ICU discharge. Therefore, the FP might be more clinically relevant in this population.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-29
Author(s):  
M. A. Sinkov ◽  
N. A. Kochergin ◽  
V. I. Ganyukov

Background. Non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) is a common cause of hospital admissions of coronary artery disease patients.Aim. To assess clinical and epidemiological patterns and hospital outcomes of treatment of NSTE-ACS in Kemerovo in period from 2015 to 2017.Methods. 4884 patients with NSTE-ACS admitted to the Kemerovo healthcare facilities in the period from 2015 to 2017 were included in a retrospective observational study. In-hospital period was subjected to the analysis.Results. The morbidity of NSTE-ACS increased by 16.92% (from 267.78 cases in 2015 to 302.13 cases per 100 thousand population in 2017). The rate of invasive treatment strategies in patients with NSTE-ACS did not change significantly within the study period (about 33%). In-hospital mortality from NSTE-ACS slightly decreased (from 3.74% in 2015 to 3.21% in 2017, p = 0.681).Conclusion. The observational study reported a tendency towards increasing prevalence of NSTE-ACS in a large industrial center within the 3-year period by 16.92%. Nevertheless, the availability of invasive treatment in Kemerovo within the study period remained high (33%). However, relatively high in-hospital mortality rate (3.36%) in NSTEMI has been determined and requires additional studies. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hussein Hassan Rizk ◽  
Ahmed Adel Elamragy ◽  
Ghada Sayed Youssef ◽  
Marwa Sayed Meshaal ◽  
Ahmad Samir ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Few data are available on the characteristics of infective endocarditis (IE) cases in Egypt. The aim of this work is to describe the characteristics and outcomes of IE patients and evaluate the temporal changes in IE diagnostic and therapeutic aspects over 11 years. Results The IE registry included 398 patients referred to the Endocarditis Unit of a tertiary care facility with the diagnosis of possible or definite IE. Patients were recruited over two periods; period 1 (n = 237, 59.5%) from February 2005 to December 2011 and period 2 (n = 161, 40.5%) from January 2012 to September 2016. An electronic database was constructed to include information on patients’ clinical and microbiological characteristics as well as complications and mortality. The median age was 30 years and rheumatic valvular heart disease was the commonest underlying cardiac disease (34.7%). Healthcare-associated IE affected 185 patients (46.5%) and 275 patients (69.1%) had negative blood cultures. The most common complications were heart failure (n = 148, 37.2%), peripheral embolization (n = 133, 33.4%), and severe sepsis (n = 100, 25.1%). In-hospital mortality occurred in 108 patients (27.1%). Period 2 was characterized by a higher prevalence of injection drug use-associated IE (15.5% vs. 7.2%, p = 0.008), a higher staphylococcal IE (50.0% vs. 35.7%, p = 0.038), lower complications (31.1% vs. 45.1%, p = 0.005), and a lower in-hospital mortality (19.9% vs. 32.1%, p = 0.007). Conclusion This Egyptian registry showed high rates of culture-negative IE, complications, and in-hospital mortality in a largely young population of patients. Improvements were noted in the rates of complications and mortality in the second half of the reporting period.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 653-659
Author(s):  
Jia Song ◽  
Yun Cui ◽  
Chunxia Wang ◽  
Jiaying Dou ◽  
Huijie Miao ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundThyroid hormone plays an important role in the adaptation of metabolic function to critically ill. The relationship between thyroid hormone levels and the outcomes of septic shock is still unclear. The aim of this study was to assess the predictive value of thyroid hormone for prognosis in pediatric septic shock.MethodsWe performed a prospective observational study in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Patients with septic shock were enrolled from August 2017 to July 2019. Clinical and laboratory indexes were collected, and thyroid hormone levels were measured on PICU admission.ResultsNinety-three patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were enrolled in this study. The incidence of nonthyroidal illness syndrome (NTIS) was 87.09% (81/93) in patients with septic shock. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that T4 level was independently associated with in-hospital mortality in patients with septic shock (OR: 0.965, 95% CI: 0.937–0.993, p = 0.017). The area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) for T4 was 0.762 (95% CI: 0.655–0.869). The cutoff threshold value of 58.71 nmol/L for T4 offered a sensitivity of 61.54% and a specificity of 85.07%, and patients with T4 < 58.71 nmol/L showed high mortality (60.0%). Moreover, T4 levels were negatively associated with the pediatric risk of mortality III scores (PRISM III), lactate (Lac) level in septic shock children.ConclusionsNonthyroidal illness syndrome is common in pediatric septic shock. T4 is an independent predictor for in-hospital mortality, and patients with T4 < 58.71 nmol/L on PICU admission could be with a risk of hospital mortality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. e000084
Author(s):  
Naveed Akhtar ◽  
Salman Al Jerdi ◽  
Ziyad Mahfoud ◽  
Yahia Imam ◽  
Saadat Kamran ◽  
...  

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a dramatic unexplained decline in hospital admissions due to acute coronary syndromes and stroke. Several theories have emerged aiming to explain this decline, mostly revolving around the fear of contracting the disease and thus avoiding hospital visits.AimsIn this study, we aim to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stroke admissions to a tertiary care centre in Qatar.MethodsThe Hamad General Hospital stroke database was interrogated for stroke admissions between September 2019 and May 2020. The number of stroke admissions, stroke subtypes and short-term outcomes was compared between the ‘pre-COVID-19’ period (September 2019 to February 2020) and the COVID-19 pandemic period (March to May 2020).ResultsWe observed a significant decline in monthly admissions in March (157), April (128) and May (135) compared with the pre-COVID-19 6-month average (229) (p=0.024). The reduction in admissions was most evident in functional stroke mimics. The average admissions decreased from 87 to 34 per month (p=0.0001). Although there were no significant differences in admissions due to ischaemic stroke (IS), intracranial haemorrhage or transient ischaemic attacks between the two periods, we noted a relative decrease in IS due to small vessel disease and an increase in those due to large vessel atherosclerosis in March to May 2020.ConclusionsThe decline in overall stroke admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic is most likely related to concerns of contracting the infection, evidenced mainly by a decline in admissions of stroke mimics. However, a relative increase in large vessel occlusions raises suspicion of pathophysiological effects of the virus, and requires further investigation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
B Narasimhan ◽  
K Ho ◽  
L Wu ◽  
M Amreia ◽  
A Isath ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The obesity paradox – indicating improved short term mortality in obese individuals has been widely explored in a number of cardiovascular conditions. However, its validity in an elderly population and the possible physiological impact of aging on this phenomenon in Acute Coronary syndrome (ACS) remain unclear. In this study, we aim to determine the relationship between obesity and in-hospital mortality, morbidity, and health care resource utilization in this cohort of patients. Methods A retrospective study was conducted using the AHRQ-HCUP National Inpatient Sample for the year 2014. Elderly adults (≥65 years) with a principal diagnosis of ACS and a secondary diagnosis of obesity were identified using ICD-9 diagnosis codes as described in the literature. The primary outcome of in-hospital mortality and secondary outcomes like length of hospital stay (LOS), and total hospitalization costs were analyzed. Propensity score (PS) using the next neighbor method without replacement with 1:1 matching was utilized to adjust for confounders. Independent risk factors for mortality were identified using a multivariate logistic regression model. Results In total, 1,137,108 hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis of ACS were identified, of which 7.46% were obese. In-hospital morality during the index admission was lower among obese patients with ACS compared to non-obese patients (4.62 vs 6.87%, p&lt;0.001) with significantly lower 30-day readmission rates as well (p&lt;0.001). However, in-hospital mortality rates during readmission were statistically equivalent between the obese and non-obese groups (5.6 vs 8.3%, p=0.72). LOS during the index admission was longer for obese patients (6.39 vs 5.36 days, p=0.65) but equivalent to non-obese patients during subsequent readmissions (p=0.12). The total cost of these admissions was significantly more in the obese cohort as well (p&lt;0.001). Conclusion In this study, obese elderly patients admitted with ACS were found to have significantly reduced in-hospital mortality and 30-day readmission rates when compared to non-obese patients - reinforcing the obesity paradox independent of patient age. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karsten Keller ◽  
Lukas Hobohm ◽  
Volker H. Schmitt ◽  
Martin Engelhardt ◽  
Philip Wenzel ◽  
...  

AbstractEnvironmental stress like important soccer events can induce excitation, stress and anger. We aimed to investigate (i) whether the FIFA soccer world cup (WC) 2014 and (ii) whether the soccer games of the German national team had an impact on total numbers and in-hospital mortality of patients with myocardial infarction (MI) in Germany. We analyzed data of MI inpatients of the German nationwide inpatient sample (2013–2015). Patients admitted due to MI during FIFA WC 2014 (12th June–13th July2014) were compared to those during the same period 2013 and 2015 (12th June–13th July). Total number of MI patients was higher during WC 2014 than in the comparison-period 2013 (18,479 vs.18,089, P < 0.001) and 2015 (18,479 vs.17,794, P < 0.001). WC was independently associated with higher MI numbers (2014 vs. 2013: OR 1.04 [95% CI 1.01–1.07]; 2014 vs. 2015: OR 1.07 [95% CI 1.04–1.10], P < 0.001). Patient characteristics and in-hospital mortality rate (8.3% vs. 8.3% vs. 8.4%) were similar during periods. In-hospital mortality rate was not affected by games of the German national team (8.9% vs. 8.1%, P = 0.110). However, we observed an increase regarding in-hospital mortality from 7.9 to 9.3% before to 12.0% at final-match-day. Number of hospital admissions due to MI in Germany was 3.7% higher during WC 2014 than during the same 31-day period 2015. While in-hospital mortality was not affected by the WC, the in-hospital mortality was highest at WC final.


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