BENGALURU: Karnataka’s Critical Care Support Team, which treats and monitors high-risk Covid-19 patients, will study several months worth of data on such patients and publish the findings in a peer-reviewed journal.
“We have treated high-risk cases while simultaneously managing their comorbidities. We plan to publish a journal with studies on Covid including analysis of experiences from different districts of Karnataka and study data from various hospitals as well. Along with Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, we will study the use of plasma therapy, the effect of medicines used to treat corona patients, etc,” said Dr Trilok Chandra, head of the Critical Care Support Team.
The material would be one of the largest data sets with information of patients across the state being studied, said Dr Anoop Amarnath, member of the expert team and head of the scientific board at Manipal Hospitals.
The study involves data of 2-3 lakh patients - including those who died - that the team has gathered since its inception in mid-April, and is expected to throw light on various issues, bring out observations and anecdotal case studies.
The study design is yet to be formulated and the team is working out what questions they are hoping to answer. “We must be scrupulous about how the study will be designed. The data can help us analyse factors influencing mortality rate such as comorbidities, age profile, gender etc. The CCST has treated and monitored Covid patients who have been on ventilators, non-invasive ventilation and HFNC (high-flow nasal cannula), as well as Severe Acute Respiratory Infection and Influenza Like Illness cases.
We can also study how the ageing of the immune system due to immunosenescence has been beneficial in reducing the cytokine response to Covid. This has helped prevent death in several cases,” Dr Anoop said.
A cytokine storm refers to the immune response to a disease, infection or autoimmune condition, in which the body releases cytokines (proteins) into the blood.
As of Thursday, 935 high-risk patients were admitted in ICUs and the pandemic claimed a total of 11,091 lives in the state. State Covid war room data shows that of the patients who died, 6,001 were aged above 60 years and formed the majority of fatalities. This is followed by the 51-60 age group with 2,892 deaths, 41-50 age group with 1,486 deaths, 31-40 age group with 676 deaths, 21-30 age group with 234 deaths, 11-20 age group with 46 deaths and 0-10 age group with 29 deaths.