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?:abstract
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The emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to high demand for intensive care services worldwide. However, the mortality of patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with COVID-19 is unclear. Here, we perform a systematic review and meta-analysis, in line with PRISMA guidelines, to assess the reported ICU mortality for patients with confirmed COVID-19. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed and Cochrane databases up to 31 May 2020 for studies reporting ICU mortality for adult patients admitted with COVID-19. The primary outcome measure was death in intensive care as a proportion of completed intensive care unit admissions, either through discharge from the ICU or death. The definition thus excluded patients still alive on ICU. Twenty-four observational studies including 10,150 patients were identified from centres across Asia, Europe, and North America. In-ICU mortality in reported studies ranged from 0-84.6%. Seven studies reported outcome data for all patients. In the remaining studies, the proportion of patients discharged from ICU at the point of reporting varied from 24.5-97.2%. In patients with completed ICU admissions with COVID-19 infection, combined ICU mortality was 41.6% (95%CI 34.0-49.7%, I2 = 93.2%). Subgroup analysis by continent showed that mortality is broadly consistent across the globe. As the pandemic has progressed the reported mortality rates have reduced from above 50% to close to 40%. The in-ICU mortality from COVID-19 is higher than usually seen in ICU admissions with other viral pneumonias. Importantly, the mortality from completed episodes of ICU differs considerably from the crude mortality rates in some early reports.
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