About one-fifth of patients who died of COVID-19 in China needed invasive mechanical ventilation, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
Researchers obtained data for 168 COVID-19 patients from 21 hospitals in Wuhan, China, who died. The study details their clinical characteristics.
They are:
1. Seventy-five percent of the patients were men, and 95.8 percent were older than 50. The median age was 70 years.
2. Most patients (74.4 percent) had one or underlying condition.
3. Hypertension was the most common underlying condition (50 percent), followed by diabetes (25 percent) and ischemic heart disease (18.5 percent).
4. All patients received oxygen therapy during their hospital stay, and 34.5 percent received high-flow nasal oxygen therapy.
5. About 42 percent of patients who died received noninvasive ventilation, where breathing support is administered through a face mask, nasal mask or a helmet.
6. About 20 percent of patients received invasive mechanical ventilation, where breathing support is administered through a tube in the trachea that serves as an artificial airway.