National early warning score on admission as risk factor for invasive mechanical ventilation in COVID-19 patients: A STROBE-compliant study

Chang, Min Cheol; Kim, Tae Uk; Park, Donghwi

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic. Invasive mechanical ventilation is recommended for the management of patients with COVID-19 who have severe respiratory symptoms. However, various complications can develop after its use. The efficient and appropriate management of patients requires the identification of factors associated with an aggravation of COVID-19 respiratory symptoms to a degree where invasive mechanical ventilation becomes necessary, thereby enabling clinicians to prevent such ventilation. This retrospective study included 138 inpatients with COVID-19 at a tertiary hospital. We evaluated the differences in the demographic and clinical data between 27 patients who required invasive mechanical ventilation and 111 patients who did not. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the duration of fever, national early warning score (NEWS), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels on admission were significantly associated with invasive mechanical ventilation in this cohort. The optimal cut-off values were: fever duration ≥1 day (sensitivity 100.0%, specificity 54.95%), NEWS ≥7 (sensitivity 72.73%, specificity 92.52%), and LDH >810 mg/dL (sensitivity 56.0%, specificity 90.29%). These findings can assist in the early identification of patients who will require invasive mechanical ventilation. Further studies in larger patient populations are recommended to validate our findings.