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.