Outcome of Non-Invasive Ventilation in Severe Corona Virus Disease of 2019 Patients; A Prospective Cohort Study

Objective: To determine the Outcome of non-invasive ventilation in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. Methodology: A prospective cohort study was conducted at Pak Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, from 1st June to 1st Dec 2021. This study included 87 patients between the ages of 45 and 75 who were admitted due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV2) infection.Infection was confirmed by SARS-COV-2 PCR (polymerase Chain reaction). These patients were symptomatic with radiological evidence consistent with COVID-19 pneumonia requiring non-invasive ventilation (NIV) trial. The primary outcome was to analyze the success and failure of using NIV, the need for invasive ventilation, as well as the mortality rate. SPSS 21 was used to enter and analyze the data. Results: The mean age was 62.89 ±7.55 years. There were 65(74.7%) males and 22(25.3%) females. NIV was successful in 33 (37.9%) patients, while 54 (62.1%) patients required endotracheal intubation (invasive ventilation). Out of these 54 patients, 44 (81.4%) died after intubation. The mean duration of NIV support was observed as 6.2 ± 3.9 days. Conclusion: NIV can prevent intubation in less than half of the patients, according to our findings.