Long-Term Acute Care Hospital Outcomes of Mechanically Ventilated Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019*

OBJECTIVES: To describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of adult patients with coronavirus disease 2019 requiring weaning from prolonged mechanical ventilation. DESIGN: Observational cohort study of patients admitted to two long-term acute care hospitals from April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021. SETTING: Two long-term acute care hospitals specialized in weaning from prolonged mechanical ventilation in the Chicagoland area, Illinois, United States. PATIENTS: Adult (≥ 18 yr old) ICU survivors of respiratory failure caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pneumonia receiving prolonged mechanical ventilation. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: During the study period, 158 consecutive patients were transferred to the long-term acute care hospitals for weaning from prolonged ventilation. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were collected and analyzed. Final date of follow-up was June 1, 2021. Prior to long-term acute care hospital transfer, median length of stay at the acute care hospital was 41.0 days and median number of ventilator days was 35. Median age was 60.0 years, 34.8% of patients were women, 91.8% had a least one comorbidity, most commonly hypertension (65.8%) and diabetes (53.2%). The percentage of weaning success was 70.9%. The median duration of successful weaning was 8 days. Mortality was 9.6%. As of June 1, 2021, 19.0% of patients had been discharged home, 70.3% had been discharged to other facilities, and 1.3% were still in the long-term acute care hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: Most patients with coronavirus disease 2019 transferred to two Chicago-area long-term acute care hospitals successfully weaned from prolonged mechanical ventilation.