Evolution of outcomes for patients hospitalized during the first SARS-CoV-2 pandemic wave in France

As SARS-CoV-2 continues to spread, a thorough characterization of healthcare needs and patient outcomes is essential to inform planning; however, these analyses are complicated by ongoing changes in patient profiles. Here we develop age and sex adjusted models to analyze detailed patient trajectories from 91,304 hospitalizations in France during the first 4 months of the epidemic. Only 25% of hospital deaths occurred in patients that were admitted into ICU. The probability of entering ICU fell by 50% and the probability of death by 52% over the study period. Had the age and sex profile not changed over time, these reductions would have been 59% and 56%, respectively. These findings suggest substantial improvements in patient outcomes since the start of the pandemic.