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).