Risk factors for intensive care unit admission or mortality in adults hospitalized for COVID-19 at high altitude

To determine the risk factors for admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) or mortality in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in a hospital in Puno, Peru.

Retrospective cohort study in adults hospitalized between April and December 2020. We evaluated Sociodemographic characteristics, vital functions, comorbidities, treatment received and its association with admission to ICU or mortality (adverse outcome). Poisson regression with robust variance was used to calculate crude and adjusted relative risks (RR) with their 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).

A total of 348 medical records were analyzed. The median age in years was 42.5 (IQR: 30.0; 58.0); 38.2% were male, and 35.3% died or were admitted to the ICU. Those admitted with an oxygen saturation ≤ 75% were 2.79 times more likely to have the adverse outcome (p < 0.001), compared to those admitted with a saturation ≥ 85%; those admitted with a value between 75-79% were 2.92 times more likely to have the adverse outcome (p < 0.001); likewise, those admitted with saturation between 80-84% were 1.70 times more likely to have the adverse outcome; however, the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.066). In addition, male patients, RR= 1.75 (p<0.001); those aged > 40 years, RR 3.5 (p=0.001); those with tachypnea, RR=1.66 (p=0.010); or with diabetes, RR = 1.53 (p=0.011) had higher risk of presenting the adverse outcome.

The risk factors for ICU admission or mortality due to COVID-19 were male sex, age over 40 years, low saturation, diabetes and tachypnea.