COVID-19 case surges at the most overwhelmed US hospitals in spring and summer 2020 may have contributed to nearly one in four adult inpatient deaths, according to a study yesterday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.Led by researchers from the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, the study involved patient- and hospital-level analyses of the Premier Healthcare Database, creation of a weighted COVID-19 caseload-to-bed capacity surge index, and hierarchical modeling.
The authors calculated risk-adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for death from Mar 1 to Aug 31, 2020, or release to hospice at 558 hospitals through Oct 31.High-burdened hospitals had twice the risk of deathAmong 144,116 coronavirus inpatients 18 years and older, 78,144