AUTHOR=Tay Matthew Rong Jie , Ong Poo Lee , Puah Ser Hon , Tham Shuen Loong 

TITLE=Acute Functional Outcomes in Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2020.615997

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2020.615997

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) is a global cause of morbidity and mortality currently. We aim to describe the acute functional outcomes of critically ill coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients after transferring out of the intensive care unit (ICU).</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> 51 consecutive critically ill COVID-19 patients at a national designated center for COVID-19 were included in this exploratory, retrospective observational cohort study from January 1 to May 31, 2020. Demographic and clinical data were collected and analyzed. Functional outcomes were measured primarily with the Functional Ambulation Category (FAC), and divided into 2 categories: dependent ambulators (FAC 0–3) and independent ambulators (FAC 4–5). Multivariate analysis was performed to determine associations.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Many patients were dependent ambulators (47.1%) upon transferring out of ICU, although 92.2% regained independent ambulation at discharge. On multivariate analysis, we found that a Charlson Comorbidity Index of 1 or more (odds ratio 14.02, 95% CI 1.15–171.28, <italic>P</italic> = 0.039) and a longer length of ICU stay (odds ratio 1.50, 95% CI 1.04–2.16, <italic>P</italic> = 0.029) were associated with dependent ambulation upon discharge from ICU.</p><p><bold>Conclusions:</bold> Critically ill COVID-19 survivors have a high level of impairment following discharge from ICU. Such patients should be screened for impairment and managed appropriately by rehabilitation professionals, so as to achieve good functional outcomes on discharge.</p>