• Anna Schandl, Anders Hedman, Patrik Lyngå, Sozan Fathi Tachinabad, Jessica Svefors, Mari Roël, Anne Geborek, Mikael Andersson Franko, Mårten Söderberg, Eva Joelsson-Alm, and Pernilla Darlington.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Södersjukhuset, Stockholm, Sweden.
• Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 2021 Oct 1; 65 (9): 1285-1292.

BackgroundCOVID-19 can cause severe disease with need of treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) for several weeks. Increased knowledge is needed about the long-term consequences.MethodsThis is a single-center prospective follow-up study of COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU for respiratory organ support between March and July 2020. Patients with invasive ventilation were compared with those with high-flow nasal oxygen (HFNO) or non-invasive ventilation (NIV) regarding functional outcome and health-related qualify of life. The mean follow-up time was 5 months after ICU discharge and included clinical history, three well-validated questionnaires about health-related quality of life and psychological health, pulmonary function test, 6-minute walk test (6MWT) and work ability. Data were analyzed with multivariable general linear and logistic regression models with 95% confidence intervals.ResultsAmong 248 ICU patients, 200 patients survived. Of these, 113 patients came for follow-up. Seventy patients (62%) had received invasive ventilation. Most patients reported impaired health-related quality of life. Approximately one-third suffered from post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression. Twenty-six percent had reduced total lung capacity, 34% had reduced 6MWT and 50% worked fulltime. The outcomes were similar regardless of ventilatory support, but invasive ventilation was associated with more bodily pain (MSD -19, 95% CI: -32 to -5) and <80% total lung capacity (OR 4.1, 95% CI: 1.3-16.5).ConclusionAmong survivors of COVID-19 who required respiratory organ support, outcomes 5 months after discharge from ICU were largely similar among those requiring invasive compared to non-invasive ventilation.© 2021 The Authors. Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation.

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