Prevalence of Different Severities of Hypoxia in COVID-19 Patients Admitted in Critical Care Unit

In 2020 Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection hit the world as pandemic. The most common and life threatening complication was various severity of respiratory failure. So we decided to conduct a study to determine the prevalence of different severities of hypoxia in COVID-19 infection. The study was a cross sectional prospective observational study on 50 participants. The study was conducted in COVID Intensive care unit (ICU) of Liaquat National Hospital and Medical College and COVID ICU of National Medical Centre Karachi, Pakistan. All patients with PO2 to FiO2 (PF) ratio less than 300, smokers and non-smokers were included in the study. PF ratio of 300 to 200 was considered as mild, 200 to 100 as Moderate and less than 100 considered as severe hypoxia. Admitting PO2 from an Arterial Blood Gas (ABG) sample and FIO2 was noted. Prevalence of hypoxia severities were graded, need of mechanical ventilation and mortality of each group was determined. 42 (84%) of patients had severe while 8 patients 16% had moderate hypoxia. None of the patient admitted in critical care had mild hypoxia. In severely hypoxic patients mortality rate was 28.6% and in moderately hypoxic group it was 50%. Severe hypoxia effected most of the COVID-19 infected patients admitted in critical care, which may be the cause of poor outcomes in critically ill COVID-19 patients.