Sepsis and COVID-19: outcomes in young adults in intensive care

OBJECTIVE: to verify sepsis incidence among young adults admitted to intensive care due to COVID-19 and to analyze its association with demographic, clinical and outcome variables. METHODS: a quantitative, longitudinal, retrospective and analytical study, consisting of 58 adults aged 20 to 40 years in intensive care for SARS-CoV-2. It was carried out in a university hospital, from March 2020 to December 2021, with data collected from electronic medical records. RESULTS: sepsis incidence was 65%. Sepsis was associated with acute kidney injury, use of vasoactive drugs and mechanical ventilation, being admitted to the emergency room, severity according to the Simplified Acute Physiology Score III and bacterial pulmonary co-infection, the latter being the most frequent etiology for sepsis. CONCLUSIONS: there was a high sepsis incidence, with 42% of deaths, which points to the importance of investing in preventive measures, especially in relation to bacterial pulmonary coinfections.