Table 3

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and COVID-19-Related Complications in Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19 (n=120)

n%
ARDS*11394.2
 Mild ARDS43.3
 Moderate ARDS2823.3
 Severe ARDS8167.5
Infectious complications†
 Bacterial pneumonia4033.3
 Urinary tract infection2218.3
 Bacteremia2218.3
 Influenza00.0
 Clostridium difficile32.5
 High-grade fever (>103 degrees Fahrenheit)5949.2
Acute kidney injury‡7663.3
 Renal replacement therapy2823.3
Acute hepatic injury§86.7
Venous thromboembolism¶
 Deep vein thrombosis32.5
 Pulmonary embolism32.5
Cardiac complications**
 Arrhythmia3125.8
 Myocardial infarction43.3
 Cardiomyopathy86.7
Pneumothorax††86.7
Neurological complications‡‡
 Seizures32.5
 Cerebrovascular accident21.7
 Intracranial hemorrhage21.7
Gastrointestinal bleed65.0
Tracheostomy75.8
Percutaneous gastrostomy tube54.2

  • *ARDS was defined by Berlin definition with bilateral infiltrates on chest radiograph along with a P/F ratio <100 for severe ARDS, between 100 and 200 for moderate ARDS, and between 200 and 300 for mild ARDS.

  • †Infectious complications were defined as positive lower respiratory tract, urine, or blood cultures respective to pneumonia, urinary tract infection, and bacteremia. Positive respiratory viral panel with respect to influenza. Positive PCR for C. difficile.

  • ‡Acute kidney injury was defined as an increase in serum creatinine by ≥0.3 mg/dL within 48 h or an increase of at least 1.5 times baseline within 7 days.

  • §Acute hepatic injury was defined as an elevation of aspartate aminotransferase or alanine aminotransferase greater than 15 times the upper limit of normal.

  • ¶Venous thromboembolism was defined by new image-proven deep vein thrombosis in femoral or popliteal veins on venous duplex ultrasonography or pulmonary embolism on CT angiography.

  • **Cardiac complications were defined as a new arrhythmia requiring intervention, clinically relevant non-ST-elevation myocardial infarctions and ST-elevation myocardial infarctions, and transthoracic echocardiography revealed depressed contractility and function with respect to cardiomyopathy.

  • ††Pneumothorax was defined by chest radiograph.

  • ‡‡Neurological complications defined new-onset seizures by electroencephalogram, and new ischemic lesions and intracranial hemorrhage by CT or MRI.