About 22 percent of COVID-19 patients admitted to two New York City hospitals were critically ill, and nearly all had at least one chronic illness, a new study shows.
The study, published in The Lancet, examined the clinical characteristics of critically ill COVID-19 patients admitted to two NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals affiliated with Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City from March 2 to April 1. Of the 1,150 COVID-19 patients admitted to both hospitals, 257 (22 percent) were critically ill.
Five study findings:
1. The median age of the critically ill patients was 62 years.
2. Sixty-seven percent were men.
2. Eighty-two percent of the patients had at least one chronic illness — most commonly hypertension (63 percent) and diabetes (36 percent).
3. About 46 percent were obese.
4. Seventy-nine percent of the patients received invasive mechanical ventilation for a median of 18 days.
5. The researchers conducted a follow-up April 28, and found 39 percent of the patients had died and 37 percent remained hospitalized.