Association between race and risk of ICU mortality in mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients at a safety net hospital

PURPOSE: To determine racial differences in intensive care unit (ICU) mortality outcomes among mechanically ventilated patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection in a safety net hospital. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed a cohort of patients ≥ 18 years old with confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome-CoV-2 disease associated respiratory failure who were treated with invasive mechanical ventilation and admitted to the ICU from May 1, 2020 – July 30 -2020 at Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia – a safety net hospital. We evaluated the association between mortality and demographics, co-morbidities, inpatient laboratory, and radiological parameters. RESULTS: Among 181 critically ill mechanically ventilated African American patients treated at a safety net hospital, the mortality rate was 33%. On stratified analysis by race (Table 2), mortality rates were significantly higher in African Americans (39%) and Hispanics (26.3%), compared to Whites (18.9%). On multivariate regression, African Americans were 3 times more likely to die in the ICU compared to Whites (OR 3.1 95% CI 1.6 -5.5). Likewise, the likelihood of mortality was higher in Hispanics compared to Whites (OR 1.3 95% CI 1.0 -3.9). CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated a high ICU mortality rate in a cohort of mechanically ventilated patients with severe COVID-19 infection treated at a safety net hospital. African Americans and Hispanics had significantly higher risks of ICU mortality compared to Whites. These study findings further elucidate the disproportionately higher burden of COVID-19 infection in African Americans and Hispanics.