[Prognosis of patients with COVID-19 admitted to a tertiary center in Chile: A cohort study]

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, extensive research has been done on the prognosis of patients with SARS-CoV-2 associated with age, biodemographic conditions, comorbidities, social factors, clinical parameters, inflammatory blood markers, coagulation, biochemical and blood gas parameters, among others. Few studies have addressed this problem in Latin America, so it is of interest to know how the disease plays out in this region.

The purpose of our study is to evaluate the course of COVID-19 in patients admitted to a tertiary center in Chile and to assess factors measured close to hospital admission that may be associated with death and the need for invasive mechanical ventilation.

We did a retrospective cohort study at Indisa Clinic in Santiago, Chile. We included all patients aged 15 years and older hospitalized between March 11 and July 25, 2020. Hospital mortality and severity of the cases were analyzed, and logistic regression models were applied to identify predictors of outcome variables.

The sample included 785 subjects. The mean age was 59 years, 59% were men, and 61.3% had comorbidities. Forty five per cent required intensive care, and 24% invasive mechanical ventilation. The overall hospital fatality rate was 18.7%. In intensive care patients, the case fatality was 32.1%, and in those who received invasive mechanical ventilation, it was 59.4%. Independent risk factors for death included age (odds ratio 1.09; 95% confidence interval: 1.07 to 1.12), diabetes (1.68; 1.06 to 2.67), chronic lung disease (2.80; 1.48 to 5.28), increased C-reactive protein, creatinine, and ferritin. No association with sex, public health insurance, history of heart disease, oxygen saturation upon admission, or D-dimer was found. Similar factors were predictors of invasive mechanical ventilation.

The prognosis and predictive factors in this cohort of patients hospitalized in Chile for COVID-19 were comparable to those reported in similar studies from higher-income countries. Male sex was not associated with a poor prognosis in this group of patients.