BENGALURU: In a span of 14 days -- April 3 to April 17 -- the Covid-19 mortality rate in Karnataka’s ICUs has been 8.72 per cent. There were 108 Covid ICU deaths of 1,239 patients admitted during this time, as per data from the health department. Of these high-risk patients, 39.95 per cent had comorbidities (495) and 60.05 per cent (744) were without comorbidities. However, when it came to the number of deaths, 61 people with comorbidities passed away and fewer patients (47) without comorbidities, succumbed.
For instance, in Bidar district, of 84 patients admitted in the ICU in these two weeks, 21 had comorbidities, but 63 did not. In Bengaluru, 22 deaths of the 261 admitted in the ICU were patients with comorbidities and 11 deaths were patients without comorbidities.
Dr Pradeep Rangappa, Consultant, Intensive Care Unit, Columbia Asia Hospital, who is part of the tele-ICU team monitoring high-risk patients in Karnataka, said that Covid vaccination may have played a role in lesser disease severity among senior citizens, as they had got inoculated earlier. He observed that more people between the ages of 40 and 50 were reporting to the ICU.
“We are seeing people as young as 28 and 30 in the ICU. This is unlike the first wave. They medicate themselves for fever at home, and when the disease progresses to include cough and shortness of breath, they come to hospitals, by which time the lungs are already damaged,” said Dr Rangappa.
Dr Anoop Amarnath, Head, Scientific Board and Chairman, Geriatric Medicine, Manipal Hospitals, who is also part of the tele-ICU team, said the findings validate the fundamental connection between mortality and comorbidities, a phenomenon experienced globally.
“The number and severity of comorbidities is directly proportional to increased mortality -- 8.72 per cent mortality rate in the ICU is good compared to 25 per cent in some international data. The time period of this data is too short to make an inference on more people with comorbidities getting admitted to ICUs,” said Dr Amarnath.
An ICU Covid-19 audit done by Columbia Asia Hospital, Yeshwanthpur, between July 1, 2020, and November 20, 2020, showed that the highest number of patients admitted in the ICU was in the 71-80 age group, with 30 males and 10 females.