| Summary: | Objectives To compare clinical, laboratory, and chest computed tomography (CT) findings in critically ill patients diagnosed
with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who survived and who died.
Methods This retrospective study reviewed 60 critically ill patients (43 males and 17 females, mean age 64.4 ± 11.0 years) with
COVID-19 pneumonia who were admitted to two different clinical centers. Their clinical and medical records were analyzed, and
the chest CT images were assessed to determine the involvement of lobes and the distribution of lesions in the lungs between the
patients who recovered from the illness and those who died.
Results Compared with recovered patients (50/60, 83%), deceased patients (10/60, 17%) were older (mean age, 70.6 vs.
62.6 years, p = 0.044). C-reactive protein (CRP) (110.8 ± 26.3 mg/L vs 63.0 ± 50.4 mg/L, p < 0.001) and neutrophil-tolymphocyte ratio (NLR) (18.7 ± 16.6 vs 8.4 ± 7.5, p = 0.030) were significantly elevated in the deceased as opposed to the
recovered. Medial or parahilar area involvement was observed in all the deceased patients (10/10, 100%), when compared to
only 54% (27/50) in the recovered. Ground-glass opacities (97%), crazy-paving pattern (92%), and air bronchogram (93%) were
the most common radiological findings. There was significant difference in diabetes (p = 0.025) and emphysema (p = 0.013), and
the odds ratio on a deceased patient having diabetes and emphysema was 6 times and 21 times the odds ratio on a recovered
patient having diabetes and emphysema, respectively.
Conclusions
Older patients with comorbidities such as diabetes and emphysema, and higher CRP and NLRs with diffuse lung
involvement were more likely to die of COVID-19.
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