COVID-19 in critically ill patients in North Brabant, the Netherlands: Patient characteristics and outcomes

Purpose: Since the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, countries are overwhelmed by critically ill Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. As ICU capacity becomes limited we characterized critically ill COVID-19 patients in the Netherlands. Methods: In this case series, COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU of the Jeroen Bosch Hospital were included from March 9 to April 7, 2020. COVID-19 was confirmed by a positive result by a RT-PCR of a specimen collected by nasopharyngeal swab. Clinical data were extracted from medical records. Results: The mean age of the 50 consecutively included critically ill COVID-19 patients was 65 +/- 10 years, the mean BMI was 29 +/- 4.7 and 66% were men. Seventy-eight percent of patients had >= 1 comorbidity, 34% had hypertension. Ninety-six percent of patients required mechanical ventilation and 80% were ventilated in prone position. Venous thromboembolism was recognized in 36% of patients. Seventy-four percent of patients survived and were successfully discharged from the ICU, the remaining 26% died (median follow up 86 days). The length of invasive ventilation in survivors was 15 days (IQR 12-31). Conclusions: The survival rate of COVID-19 critically ill patients in our population is considerably better than previously reported. Thrombotic complications are commonly found and merit clinical attention. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.