Analysis of European aeromedical evacuation flights of COVID-19 patients

Sammito, Stefan; Turc, Jean; Post, Janina; Beaussac, Madeleine; Hossfeld, Björn; Boutonnet, Mathieu

BACKGROUND: As part of the humanitarian response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the German and French Armed Forces provided air transport for patients from overwhelmed regional hospitals in Italy and France. The objective of this study is to analyse the characteristics of the missions and the medical conditions of COVID-19 patients transported during an aeromedical evacuation on fixed-wing aircraft in March and April 2020. METHOD: Retrospective analysis of transport records as well as other documents for 58 COVID-19 patients requiring artificial ventilation. RESULTS: The age of the transported patients was in median 61.5 years and 61 % of them had pre-existing medical conditions. They had been ventilated for a median of 5 days and experienced the first symptoms of 18 days before transport. The patients flown out of France had less days of ventilation before flight, a lower end-tidal CO(2) at the beginning of the flight and a lower Charlson Comobidity Index. There were also some differences between the ventilation and the flight-level flown by the two air forces. CONCLUSION: The intensive care transport of ventilated COVID-19 patients requires highly qualified personnel and appropriate equipment and should be planned appropriately.