METHODOLOGY
The medical records of the patients who were admitted to the ICUs of Sakarya University Training and Research Hospital with the diagnosis of COVID-19 between October 2020-February 2021 were analyzed retrospectively. Nasopharyngeal swab PCR test positivity was accepted as the gold standard for the diagnosis of COVID-19. Patients who were below the age of 18 and had a negative PCR test result were excluded from the study. We included 134 patients in the study, in 45 of whom the treatment regimen included dexmedetomidine and 89 of whom were not treated with dexmedetomidine. Patients treated with dexmedetomidine at any time during the treatment were defined as the “patient group”, whereas patients without deksmedetomidine use were defined as “control group” and the parameters were compared between these groups. DEX infusion was applied to the patients who were agitated and non-cooperative for NIMV and prone positioning (PP). Patients who were progressed to endotracheal intubation were suspended from DEX infusion and started other anesthetics such as midazolam and propofol for deeper sedation. Demographical data such as age, gender, drug history, and comorbidities were obtained from patients’ medical records along with applied treatments during the ICU stay. Lab parameters that were obtained at the time of admission to ICU were used for analysis. Collected data were analyzed in the biostatistical program.
Descriptive analyses were presented using medians and interquartile range (IQR) for the non-
normally distributed variables. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for nonparametric tests to
compare these parameters. The chi-square test was used to compare the categorical variables between two groups. The categorical variables were presented as the frequency (% percentage). A p-value <0.05 was considered significant. SPSS statistical software version 21 was used for analyses.