Table 1.
Characteristics of COVID-19 patients with intubation
| Before IPW | After IPW | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early intubation | Non-early intubation | Standardized difference | Early intubation | Non-early intubation | Standardized difference | |
| Cases, n | 110 | 302 | ||||
| Age, years, median (IQR) | 67 (54–74) | 67 (57–76) | 0.082 | 67 (55–71) | 67 (56–76) | 0.094 |
| Sex, male, n (%) | 79 (71.8%) | 247 (81.8%) | 0.238 | 313 (83.7%) | 284 (80.7%) | 0.079 |
| Comorbidity, Charlson index, median (IQR) | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–1) | 0.122 | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–1) | 0.095 |
| Comorbidity, chronic lung disease, n (%) | 1 (0.9%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0.136 | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0.000 |
| Comorbidity, diabetes, n (%) | 31 (28.2%) | 76 (25.2%) | 0.068 | 113 (30.2%) | 98 (27.8%) | 0.052 |
| Chronic cardiopulmonary status | ||||||
| Hugh–Jones classification, > III, n (%) | 20 (18.2%) | 39 (12.9%) | 0.146 | 63 (16.8%) | 53 (15.1%) | 0.049 |
| NYHA functional classification, > II, n (%) | 1 (0.9%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0.136 | 1 (0.3%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0.073 |
| Status on hospital arrival | ||||||
| GCS, median (IQR) | 15 (15–15) | 15 (15–15) | 0.098 | 15 (15–15) | 15 (15–15) | 0.000 |
| Respiratory rate, /min, median (IQR) | 22 (18–27) | 24 (20–28) | 0.106 | 24 (20–28) | 24 (20–28) | 0.027 |
| Oxygen requirement, ≥ 4 L/min, n (%) | 50 (58.1%) | 171 (70.4%) | 0.259 | 242 (73.8%) | 208 (69.8%) | 0.089 |
| SOFA, hemodynamic score, median (IQR)a | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–0) | 0.219 | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–0) | 0.000 |
| SOFA on ICU admission, total score, median (IQR) | 6 (4–8) | 6 (4–9) | 0.203 | 5 (3–6) | 5 (4–7) | 0.000 |
| Status at intubation | ||||||
| Days from onset of symptoms, median (IQR) | 8 (5–10) | 8 (6–10) | 0.101 | 8 (6–10) | 8 (6–10) | 0.016 |
| PaO2, mm Hg, median (IQR) | 70 (59–81) | 69 (58–87) | 0.046 | 67 (57–83) | 71 (59–86) | 0.047 |
| SOFA, hemodynamic score, median (IQR)a | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–0) | 0.206 | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–0) | 0.000 |
| Lactate, ≥ 2 mmol/L, n (%) | 6 (37.5%) | 5 (15.6%) | 0.511 | 9 (2.4%) | 6 (1.7%) | 0.050 |
| Blood test at intubation, median (IQR) | ||||||
| WBC, 103/μL | 6.8 (4.7–8.5) | 6.8 (5.2–9.5) | 0.048 | 8.0 (5.0–8.0) | 6.7 (5.5–8.5) | 0.056 |
| CRP, mg/dL | 11 (5–15) | 10 (7–14) | 0.150 | 14 (7–14) | 11 (7–17) | 0.048 |
| D-dimer, μg/dL | 2.0 (1.1–4.7) | 1.8 (0.8–2.9) | 0.387 | 2.1 (1.5–2.1) | 1.7 (0.9–2.7) | 0.074 |
| Medications, n (%) | ||||||
| Remdesivir | 37 (33.6%) | 64 (21.2%) | 0.282 | 99 (26.5%) | 83 (23.6%) | 0.067 |
| Tocilizumab | 9 (8.2%) | 7 (2.3%) | 0.265 | 12 (3.2%) | 12 (3.4%) | 0.011 |
| Dexamethasoneb | 28 (25.5%) | 78 (25.8%) | 0.009 | 86 (23.0%) | 94 (26.7%) | 0.086 |
| Respiratory support before intubation, n (%) | ||||||
| HFNC | 0 (0.0%) | 25 (8.3%) | 0.425 | |||
| NIPPV | 0 (0.0%) | 1 (0.3%) | 0.082 | |||
| Frequency of early intubation, n (%) | ||||||
| Low | 6 (5.5%) | 132 (43.7%) | 0.992 | 149 (39.8%) | 127 (36.1%) | 0.078 |
| Moderate | 43 (39.1%) | 115 (38.1%) | 0.021 | 121 (32.4%) | 120 (34.1%) | 0.037 |
| High | 61 (55.5%) | 55 (18.2%) | 0.837 | 105 (28.1%) | 106 (30.1%) | 0.045 |
| Days from arrival to intubation, days, median (IQR) | 0 (0–3) | 0 (0–2) | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–2) | ||
COVID-19 coronavirus disease 2019, IPW inverse probability weighting, IQR interquartile range, NYHA New York Heart Association, GCS Glasgow Coma Scale, SOFA Sequential Organ Failure Assessment, ICU intensive care unit, PaO2 partial pressure of oxygen, WBC white blood cell count, CRP C-reactive protein, HFNC high-flow nasal cannula, NIPPV noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation
aThe hemodynamic score of SOFA is on a scale of 0 to 4, where 0 indicates ≥ 70 mm Hg of mean arterial pressure
bOther corticosteroids equivalent to 6 mg of dexamethasone (or at a least half dose of it) are included