Observational studyPloS one2022
Clinical characteristics associated with mortality of COVID-19 patients admitted to an intensive care unit of a tertiary hospital in South Africa.
Observational study in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Exit Meta-Analysis on the Effect of HIV on COVID-19 Mortality, Hospitalization, and ICU Admission.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Pooled it
- AI Predictive Model of Mortality and Intensive Care Unit Admission in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Retrospective Population Cohort Study of 12,000 Patients.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Observational
- Predictive modelling and identification of critical variables of mortality risk in COVID-19 patients.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Beyond survival: Functionality and health-related quality of life among a cohort of ICU survivors 6 months after hospital discharge - a single-centre study in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.The Southern African journal of critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Society · 2025Article
- Article
- The changing demographics and severity in hospitalized patients across COVID-19 variants: A national cohort study.Journal of clinical and translational science · 2025Article
- Observational
- Diabetes mellitus in sub-saharan Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic: A scoping review.PloS one · 2024Article
- Modeling mortality risk in patients with severe COVID-19 from Mexico.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Machine learning algorithms for predicting determinants of COVID-19 mortality in South Africa.Frontiers in artificial intelligence · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
32 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOver 130 million people have been diagnosed with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and more than one million fatalities have been reported worldwide. South Africa is unique in having a quadruple disease burden of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis, making COVID-19-related mortality of particular interest in the country. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics and associated mortality of COVID-19 patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) in a South African setting. METHODS AND
findingsWe performed a prospective observational study of patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection admitted to the ICU of a South African tertiary hospital in Cape Town. The mortality and discharge rates were the primary outcomes. Demographic, clinical and laboratory data were analysed, and multivariable robust Poisson regression model was used to identify risk factors for mortality. Furthermore, Cox proportional hazards regression model was performed to assess the association between time to death and the predictor variables. Factors associated with death (time to death) at p-value < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Of the 402 patients admitted to the ICU, 250 (62%) died, and another 12 (3%) died in the hospital after being discharged from the ICU. The median age of the study population was 54.1 years (IQR: 46.0-61.6). The mortality rate among those who were intubated was significantly higher at 201/221 (91%). After adjusting for confounding, multivariable robust Poisson regression analysis revealed that age more than 48 years, requiring invasive mechanical ventilation, HIV status, procalcitonin (PCT), Troponin T, Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST), and a low pH on admission all significantly predicted mortality. Three main risk factors predictive of mortality were identified in the analysis using Cox regression Cox proportional hazards regression model. HIV positive status, myalgia, and intubated in the ICU were identified as independent prognostic factors.
conclusionsIn this study, the mortality rate in COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU was high. Older age, the need for invasive mechanical ventilation, HIV status, and metabolic acidosis were found to be significant predictors of mortality in patients admitted to the ICU.
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