• Mathias Lehmann, Sven Peeters, Manuel Streuter, Marek Nawrocki, Katrin Kösters, and Knut Kröger.
• Klinik für Pneumologie und Schlafmedizin, HELIOS Klinik, Krefeld.
• Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. 2023 Feb 1; 148 (4): e14e20e14-e20.

PurposeWe analyzed patients' characteristics and hospital admission in Germany's first and second COVID 19 wave.MethodsWe include all patients hospitalized with the proven diagnosis COVID 19 admitted to the HELIOS Hospital Krefeld, Germany, in the first wave (n = 84; from 11.03.2020-30.06.2020) and the second wave (n = 344; from 01.07.2020-31.01.2021).ResultsPatients' age, gender and comorbidities were similar with the exception of venous thrombosis in medical history which was more frequent in the first wave (6 % vs 0.3 %, p = p = 0,001). At admission, there were no differences in the results of the initial lab values (c-reactive protein, leucocytes) and blood gas analyses between both groups. Treatment differed in the application of dexamethasone and anticoagulation. In the first wave, nobody received dexamethasone. However, this changed to 52.6 % of patients in the second wave for a mean length of 3.6 ± 4.1 days. Anticoagulation with double standard prophylaxis (2 × 40 mg low molecular heparin, subcutaneous) was applied in 7.1 % of patients in the first wave but 30.2 % (p = 0.002) in the second wave. In the first wave more thromboembolic events were diagnosed after admission (19.0 % vs 7.0 %, p = 0.001). In-hospital death was 26.2 % in the first wave and 15.4 % in the second wave (p = 0.0234). Most deaths were attributed to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).ConclusionPatients' characteristics did not vary in Germany's first and second COVID 19 wave, but anticoagulation and dexamethasone were applied more frequently in the second wave. In addition, there were fewer thromboembolic complications in the second wave.The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commecial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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