RESUMEN
Background: Unselected data of nationwide studies of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is still sparse, but these data are of outstanding interest not to exceed hospital capacities and to avoid overloading of national health-care systems. Purpose(s): Thus, we sought to analyze seasonal/regional trends, predictors of in-hospital case-fatality and mechanical ventilation (MV) in patients with COVID-19 in Germany. Method(s): We used the German nationwide inpatient sample to analyze all hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis in Germany between January 1st and December 31st in 2020 (source: RDC of the Federal Statistical Office and the Statistical Offices of the federal states, DRG Statistics 2020, own calculations). Covid-19-inpatients with MV vs. without MV and survivors vs. non-survivors were compared. Logistic regression models were calculated to investigate associations between patients' characteristics as well as adverse events and i) necessity of MV and ii) in-hospital death. Result(s): We analyzed data of 176,137 hospitalizations of patients with confirmed COVID-19-infection. Among those, 31,607 (17.9%) died, whereby in-hospital case-fatality grew exponentially with age. Cardiovascular comorbidities were common in hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19-infections: Overall, almost half of the patients (46.8%;n=82,480) had arterial hypertension and 25,574 (14.4%) had a diagnosis of coronary artery disease. In 60.7% (n=106,913) of the hospitalizations, pneumonia was reported, 8.6% (n=15,061) had an acute infection of the upper or lower airways other than pneumonia, and 6.6% (n=11,594) suffered from an acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) during hospitalization Age >=70 years (OR 5.91, 95% CI 5.70-6.13, P<0.001), pneumonia (OR 4.58, 95% CI 4.42-4.74, P<0.001) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (OR 8.51, 95% CI 8.12-8.92, P<0.001) were strong predictors of in-hospital death. Most COVID-19-patients were treated in hospitals in urban areas (n=92,971) associated with lowest case-fatality (17.5%) as compared to hospitals in suburban (18.3%) or rural areas (18.8%). MV demand was highest in November/December 2020 (32.3%, 20.3%) in patients between 6th and 8th age-decade. In the first age-decade, 78 of 1861 children (4.2%) with COVID-19-infection were treated with MV and five of them died (0.3%). Conclusion(s): The results of our study indicate seasonal and regional variations concerning number of COVID-19-patients, necessity of MV and casefatality in Germany. These findings may help to ensure flexible allocation of intensive care (human) resources, which is essential for managing enormous societal challenges worldwide to avoid overloaded regional healthcare systems.
RESUMEN
Background: Although a high prevalence of pulmonary embolism (PE) has been reported as a complication during severe COVID-19 infections in critical ill patients, nationwide data of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 with PE is still limited. Thus, we sought to analyze seasonal trends and predictors of in-hospital case-fatality in patients with COVID-19 and PE in Germany. Method(s): We used the German nationwide inpatient sample to analyze all data on hospitalizations for COVID-19 patients with and without PE in Germany during the year 2020 and to compare changes of PE prevalence to 2019. Result(s):We analyzed data of 176,137 hospitalizations because of COVID- 19 in 2020. Among those, PE was recorded in 1.9% (n=3,362) of discharge or death certificates. Almost one third of patients with COVID-19 and PE died during the in-hospital course (28.7%). The case-fatality rate increased with patients' age peaking in the 9th life-decade. Regardless of COVID-19, 196,203 inpatients were diagnosed with PE in Germany between 2019 and 2020. The number of PE hospitalizations were widely equally distributed between both years (98,485 vs. 97,718), while the case-fatality rate of all patients with PE was slightly lower in 2019 compared to 2020 (12.7% vs. 13.1%, P<0.001). In contrast, considerable differences in prevalence and case-fatality were demonstrated in 2020 regarding PE patients with and without COVID-19 infection (28.7% vs. 13.1%, P<0.001) (Figure 1). A COVID-19-infection was associated with a 2.8-fold increased risk of casefatality in patients with PE (OR 2.81, 95% CI 1.66-2.12, P<0.001). Conclusion(s): In Germany, the prevalence of PE events complicating hospitalizations was similar in 2019 and 2020. However, the fatality rate among patients with COVID-19-associated PE was substantially higher than that in those without either COVID-19 or PE, indicating an additive prognostic effect of these two conditions.