Severe and critical COVID-19 in a tertiary center in Colombia, a retrospective cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Colombia has been one of the Latin American countries seriously affected by the covid-19 pandemic. Risk factors for severe disease and death in COVID 19 have been described across the world. Here we report the outcomes, clinical characteristics and risk factors for invasive mechanical ventilation and in-hospital death in a tertiary center in Palmira, Colombia. METHODS: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study involving one single center in Palmira, Colombia. People hospitalized with severe and critical covid-19, during the first pandemic wave, were included. The clinical characteristics and risk factors for in-hospital mortality and invasive mechanical ventilation were mean to be stablished by using a logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: One hundred and fifty-eight patients were analyzed. Most patients were male (70%) with a mean age of 63 years, invasive mechanical ventilation was provided to 39%, in-hospital mortality was 36%, mainly caused by refractory hypoxemia and septic shock, admission to intensive care was as high as 65%. The logistic regression analysis showed that the risk factors for in-hospital mortality were elevated levels of lactic dehydrogenase and high-sensitivity troponin I, acute renal failure, COPD, and > 10 points on the MuLBSTA score. The risk factors for invasive mechanical ventilation were high levels of C-reactive protein and very low lymphocyte counts, a PaO2/FiO(2) < 70 and some clinical scores like CURB65, NEWS 2, and PSI/PORT. CONCLUSIONS: During the first pandemic wave in Colombia, for the experience of a tertiary center with a mainly elderly population, a high prevalence of severe ARDS was found, high requirement of intensive care, invasive ventilatory support, bacterial sepsis and an elevated mortality rate were found. The risk factors for in-hospital death and invasive mechanical ventilation were stablished. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12879-022-07246-0.