Data shows strain on ICU capacity leads to more deaths during COVID-19 pandemic
COVID-19 ICU patients twice as likely to die if treated during peak COVID-19 ICU demand
2021-02-01
(Press-News.org) The COVID-19 pandemic is straining health systems across the country, especially intensive care units. New research from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of Medicine shows that people treated in the ICU for COVID-19 are twice as likely to die when the ICU capacity is strained by the number of COVID-19 patients.
"These results demonstrate that patients with COVID-19 are more likely to die if they are admitted to an ICU during times with peak COVID-19 caseload," said Dawn Bravata, M.D., first author of the study. "We know that strain on hospital capacity has been associated with increased mortality under normal circumstances. This study provides evidence that the same is true during the current pandemic." Dr. Bravata is a core investigator in the VA Health Services Research and Development Center for Health Information and Communication, a Regenstrief research scientist and an IU School of Medicine professor.
The research team looked at the health outcomes of 8,516 COVID-19 patients who were admitted to 88 VA hospitals across the country from March through August 2020. The team measured the strain on the hospitals' critical care capacity by comparing the number of critically ill COVID-19 patients to the typical ICU bed count and the ICU caseload for each patient's stay in the hospital.
After analyzing the data, they found patients who were admitted during peak times of COVID-19 ICU demand were up to two times more likely to die than those admitted under less strained periods.
"Hospital and health leaders may want to consider tracking COVID-19 ICU demand as they coordinate COVID-19 admissions to improve patient outcomes and potentially save lives," said Dr. Bravata.
INFORMATION:
"Association of Intensive Care Unit Patient Load and Demand with Patient Mortality Rates In US Department of Veterans Affairs Hospitals During the COVID-19 Pandemic" was published online in JAMA Network Open. This work was supported by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research & Development Service Precision Monitoring to Transform Care Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUE 15-280).
In addition to Dr. Bravata, authors on the paper are Anthony Perkins, M.S. of VA HSR&D PRISM QUERI and IU School of Medicine; Laura Myers, PhD of VA HSR&D PRISM QUERI and Center for Health Information and Communication (CHIC), IU School of Medicine and Regenstrief Institute; Greg Arling, PhD of VA HSR&D PRISM QUERI and Purdue University School of Nursing; Ying Zhang, PhD, M.S. of VA HSR&D PRISM QUERI and the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center; Alan Zillich, PharmD of Purdue University College of Pharmacy; Lindsey Reese, M.D. of the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center; Andrew Dysangco, M.D. of the Roudebush VA Medical Center and IU School of Medicine; Rajiv Agarwal, M.B., B.S., of the Roudebush VA Medical Center and IU School of Medicine; Jennifer Myers, MSW of VA HSR&D PRISM QUERI and CHIC; Charles Austin, MDiv of VA HSR&D PRISM QUERI and CHIC; Ali Sexon, MBA of VA HSR&D PRIS-M QUERI and CHIC; Samuel Leonard, MSW of the Northern California Institute for Research and Education; Sharmistha Dev, M.D., MPH of VA HSR&D CHIC, Roudebush VA Medical Center and Regenstrief Institute; and Salomeh Keyhani, M.D. of VA HSR&D PRISM QUERI, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and University of California, San Francisco.
About the VA Health Services Research and Development Center for Health Information and Communication
The Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) Center for Health Information and Communication (CHIC) group is a diverse cadre of researchers joining together to transform the healthcare system, both within and outside the VA so every patient receives consistent, high-quality care.
About Regenstrief Institute
Founded in 1969 in Indianapolis, the Regenstrief Institute is a local, national and global leader dedicated to a world where better information empowers people to end disease and realize true health. A key research partner to Indiana University, Regenstrief and its research scientists are responsible for a growing number of major healthcare innovations and studies. Examples range from the development of global health information technology standards that enable the use and interoperability of electronic health records to improving patient-physician communications, to creating models of care that inform practice and improve the lives of patients around the globe.
Sam Regenstrief, a nationally successful entrepreneur from Connersville, Indiana, founded the institute with the goal of making healthcare more efficient and accessible for everyone. His vision continues to guide the institute's research mission.
About IU School of Medicine
IU School of Medicine is the largest medical school in the U.S. and is annually ranked among the top medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The school offers high-quality medical education, access to leading medical research and rich campus life in nine Indiana cities, including rural and urban locations consistently recognized for livability.
Dawn M. Bravata, M.D.
In addition to her role as a research scientist at Regenstrief Institute, Dawn M. Bravata, M.D., is a professor of medicine at IU School of Medicine. She also serves as a core investigator for the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs Health Services Research and Development Center for Health Information and Communication, Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center and a co-principal investigator for the VA HSR&D PRISM QUERI.
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2021-02-01
Amsterdam, December 29, 2020 - This new pioneering study by Prof. Ricardo Maccioni and coworkers of the International Center for Biomedicine, "New Frontiers in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer´s disease" was published in the special issue of Latin American investigators of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease(JAD). This supports a growing body of research on the Alzheimer's prevention value of an integrated approach using daily exercise, nutraceuticals, oriental practices such as QiGong along with meditation, and social life. These elements of a healthy style of life are supplemented with the use of reliable biomarkers for early detection of this disease that allows the detection of Alzheimer up to 20 years before ...
2021-02-01
Chronic stress could be the prevailing condition of our time. In the short term, our jaws or stomachs may clench; in the long term, stress can lead to metabolic disease and speed up diseases of aging, as well as leading to more serious psychological disorders. The physical manifestations of stress originate in the brain, and they move along a so-called "stress axis" that ends in the adrenal glands. These glands then produce the hormone cortisol. When the stress axis is continually activated, changes occur in the cells and organs along the way, and the continual production of cortisol then substantially contribute the symptoms of chronic stress.
The stress response axis starts with the hypothalamus in the brain, ...
2021-02-01
Scientists say stable seafood consumption amongst the world's poorer coastal communities is linked to how local habitat characteristics influence fishing at different times of the year.
In the coastal communities of low-income countries, the seafood people catch themselves is often a main food source. In a new study, scientists focused on an often-overlooked type of fishing called gleaning: collecting molluscs, crabs, octopus and reef fish by hand close to shore.
"We surveyed 131 households in eight coastal communities on a small island off Timor-Leste," said study lead author Ruby Grantham from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.
Grantham said even though gleaning is important for food security ...
2021-02-01
(Boston)--There have been great advances in treating melanoma over the past five years, however, even with these treatments many patients quickly develop drug resistance and die from their disease. A new study from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) has discovered that a drug (YK-4-279) that was previously created to target one specific type of protein has much broader use against a family of proteins that act to promote melanoma.
"We find that this drug inhibited melanoma from becoming more aggressive in human cells and in experimental models. We also found a specific pathway that this drug acts through to be anti-cancer: inhibiting proteins that drive genes that promote cancer cell growth and metastasis," ...
2021-02-01
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Antarctic ice is melting, contributing massive amounts of water to the world's seas and causing them to rise - but that melt is not as linear and consistent as scientists previously thought, a new analysis of 20 years' worth of satellite data indicates.
The analysis, built on gravitational field data from a NASA satellite system, shows that Antarctica's ice melts at different rates each year, meaning the models scientists use to predict coming sea level rise might also need adjusting.
"The ice sheet is not changing with a constant rate - it's more complicated than a linear change," said Lei Wang, assistant professor ...
2021-02-01
Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of Texas have developed and demonstrated a new approach for designing photonic devices. The advance allows them to control the direction and polarization of light from thin-film LEDs, paving the way for a new generation of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies.
"This is a fundamentally new device architecture for photonic devices," says Franky So, corresponding author of a paper describing the work. "And we've demonstrated that, using our approach, directional and polarized emissions from an organic LED or a perovskite LED without external optical elements can be realized." So is the ...
2021-02-01
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and their collaborators found that inhaling unfragmented hyaluronan improves lung function in patients suffering from severe exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Hyaluronan, a sugar secreted by living tissue that acts as a scaffold for cells, is also used in cosmetics as a skin moisturizer and as a nasal spray to moisturize lung airways. Utilized as a treatment, hyaluronan shortened the amount of time COPD patients in intensive care needed breathing support, decreased their number of days in the hospital, and saved money by reducing their hospital stay.
The study, published online in Respiratory Research, is a good example of how examining the impacts of environmental pollution on the lungs can ...
2021-02-01
Self-control significantly affects well-being and objective success in life. Although many agree that a high degree of self-control is beneficial, helping people develop more self-control is a tricky challenge. Self-control training, like training in any domain, is affected by the basic question of whether a person is motivated to improve self-control. Recent work has found that people differ as to how strongly they desire better self-control, and reveals some of the factors affecting this desire.
Desire for self-control (DSC) reflects a wish to have an improved self-control ability. This desire is influenced by societal or cultural ...
2021-02-01
HOUSTON - (Feb. 1, 2021) - When aboveground storage tanks fail during a storm and their toxic contents spread, the threat to human health can and probably will flow downwind of the immediate area.
Rice University engineers have developed a model to quantify what could happen when a hurricane or other natural disaster causes such damage based on data gathered from the Houston Ship Channel, the largest petrochemical complex in the United States, during and after two hurricanes, Ike in 2008 and Harvey in 2017.
Pollutants like toxic organic chemicals evaporate ...
2021-02-01
There is a considerable gap in our current understanding of gift-giving because much of what has been studied has focused on gift-giving as an affair between just two consumers--a single giver and a recipient. Little is known about the impact other gifts have on the recipient of the gifts, even though some of the most common occasions for giving a gift, such as birthdays, the winter holidays, Mothers' and Fathers' Day, graduations, bridal showers, baby showers, bachelor and bachelorette parties, going away parties, and retirement parties, all typically involve a recipient receiving gifts from several different givers.
Researchers from ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Data shows strain on ICU capacity leads to more deaths during COVID-19 pandemic
COVID-19 ICU patients twice as likely to die if treated during peak COVID-19 ICU demand
