Characteristics and Outcomes by Ceiling of Care of Subjects Hospitalized with COVID-19 During Four Waves of the Pandemic in a Metropolitan Area: A Multicenter Cohort Study
Natàlia Pallarés, Cristian Tebé, Gabriela Abelenda-Alonso, Alexander Rombauts, Isabel Oriol, Antonella F. Simonetti, Alejandro Rodríguez‐Molinero, Elisenda Izquierdo, Vicens Díaz-Brito, Gemma Molist, Guadalupe Gómez Melis, Jordi Carratalà, Sebastián Videla, the MetroSud and Divine study groups, Carlota Gudiol, Judit Aranda-Lobo, Marta Arroyo, Carlos Pérez‐López, Montserrat Sanmartí, Encarna Moreno, Maria C. Ma Alvarez, Ana Faura, Martha Elva Campuzano-González, Paula Carolina Guzmán Cruz, Mireia Colom, Andrea Pérez, Laura Serrano, Mireia Besalú, Erik Cobo, Jordi Cortés, Daniel Fernández, Leire Garmendia, Pilar Hereu, Klaus Langohr, Núria Pérez‐Álvarez, Xavier Piulachs
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The profiles of patients with COVID-19 have been widely studied, but little is known about differences in baseline characteristics and in outcomes between subjects with a ceiling of care assigned at hospital admission and subjects without a ceiling of care. The aim of this study is to compare, by ceiling of care, clinical features and outcomes of hospitalized subjects during four waves of COVID-19 in a metropolitan area in Catalonia. METHODS: Observational study conducted during the first (March-April 2020), second (October-November 2020), third (January-February 2021), and fourth wave (July-August 2021) of COVID-19 in five centers of Catalonia. All subjects were adults (> 18 years old) hospitalized with a proven SARS-CoV-2 infection and with therapeutic ceiling of care assessed by the attending physician at hospital admission. RESULTS: A total of 5813 subjects were analyzed. Subjects with a ceiling of care were mainly older (difference in median age of 20 years), with more comorbidities (Charlson index 3 points higher) and with fewer clinical signs at baseline than patients without a ceiling of care. Some features of their clinical profiles changed among waves. There were differences in treatments received during hospital admission across waves, but not between subjects with and without a ceiling of care. Subjects with a ceiling of care had a death incidence more than four times the death incidence of subjects a without a ceiling of care (risk ratio (RR) ranging from 3.5 in the first wave to almost 6 in the third and fourth). Incidence of severe pneumonia and complications for subjects with a ceiling of care was around 1.5 times the incidence in subjects without a ceiling of care. DISCUSSION: Analysis of hospitalized subjects with SARS-CoV-2 infection should be stratified according to therapeutic ceiling of care to avoid bias and outcome misestimation.