RESULTS
The median age of the all patients was 69.5 whereas it was 67 for the
patient group and 70 for the control group. There was not any
significant difference in terms of median ages between the groups
(p=0.094, p>0.05). 62,7% of the patients were male and
there was no significant difference regarding to gender between the
groups (p=0.07, p>0.05). Mortality rates were 71.1% for
the patient group, 76,4% for the control group, and 74,6% for all
patients, however these differences were not significant (p=0.506,
p>0.05). There was also not any significant difference
regarding to intubation rates between the groups (p=0.292,
p>0.005). The median duration of intubation was 3 days for
the patient group while it was 5 days for the control group however, the
difference was not significant (p=0.521, p>0.05). The
median duration between ICU admission of the patients and their time of
intubation was 4 days for the control group whereas it was 1 day for the
patient group and the difference was strongly significant (p=0.000,
p<0.001). Analysis of lab parameters including white blood
cell (WBC), hemoglobin (HB), platelet count (PLT), c-reactive protein
(CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), sedimentation rate(sedim), D-dimer, lactate
dehydrogenase (LDH), fibrinogen, Troponin-I, aspartate aminotransferase
(AST), alanine aminotransferase (AST), and ferritin revealed a no
significant difference between the groups (p>0.05) (Table
1).
We compared the patient and the control group in terms of comorbidities
and drug usage history. Diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension (HT),
coronary artery disease (CAD), congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, chronic renal failure
(CRF), neurological disorders (ND), and atrial fibrillation (AF) were
included in the analysis as comorbidites. Among comorbidities, only the
patients with DM and CHF were significantly less treated with DEX
(p=0.04, and p=0.03 respectively). No association was found between the
other comorbidities and the study groups. Regular usage of angiotensin
converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI), angiotensin receptor blockers
(ARB), ibuprofen, other non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs),
steroids, acetylsalycilic acid (ASA), metformin, other oral
antidiabetics (OADs), insulin, proton pump inhibitors/histamine-h2
receptor blockers (PPI/H2RB), klopidogrel, immunosuppressive agents
(IS), diuretics, inhaler treatments (IT), warfarin and antideppressants
(AD) were included in the analysis. Among these, only the patients with
history of insulin use were significantly less treated with DEX
(p=0.016). There was no other significant difference regarding to
history of drug use between the groups (Table 2 ).
Last but not least, we compared the groups with respect to the
treatments patients received during their stay in the ICUs.
Plasmapheresis, convalescent plasma (CP), dexamethasone, pulse steroid (
≥ 250 mg of methylprednisolone), intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG),
favipiravir, tocilizumab (TOC), low molecular weight heparin (LMWH),
famotidine, moxifloxacin (MOX), and broad-spectrum antibiotics (BSA),
CPAP, and HFNC were included in the analysis as the applied treatments.
Among these, only IVIG and CPAP therapy was found to be more frequently
used in the patient group than the control group (p=0.043, and p=0.001
respectively, p>0.05). No other significant association was
found between the other treatments and the study groups (Table 3).