ABSTRACT
Background: The overall mortality of patients with COVID-19 admitted to intensive care units is approximately 40%. Aim: To describe the characteristics of a cohort of patients with COVID-19 who required invasive mechanical ventilation due to severe hypoxemic acute respiratory failure at a general hospital in Santiago, Chile. Material and Methods: Review of medical records and follow up for 28 days of patients with COVID-19 confirmed by polymerase chain reaction who required invasive mechanical ventilation and who were admitted to the intensive care unit from March 24 to June 7, 2020. Results: Data from 152 patients aged 58 (interquartile range (IQR) 47-65 years (66% men) was analyzed. As of July 5, 36 (24%) had died, 75 (49%) were discharged, 10 (7%) were still on invasive mechanical ventilation, 11 (7%) remained with tracheostomy but without invasive mechanical ventilation, and 20 (13%) were hospitalized in a basic unit. The median time on invasive mechanical ventilation among extubated patients was 14 days (IQR 10-21) and 121 (80%) were in the prone position. Patients who died were older, had a higher frequency of diabetes mellitus and a higher driving pressure at 7 days than those discharged alive from the intensive care unit. Conclusions: In this study mortality was lower than that reported in the first international studies, probably due to the selection of younger patients and greater knowledge of the disease.