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. 2021 Mar 31;11(1):54.
doi: 10.1186/s13613-021-00841-5.

Inter-hospital transport of critically ill patients to manage the intensive care unit surge during the COVID-19 pandemic in France

Benoit Painvin  1 , Hélène Messet  2 , Maeva Rodriguez  3 , Thomas Lebouvier  4 , Delphine Chatellier  3 , Louis Soulat  5 , Stephane Ehrmann  6   7 , Arnaud W Thille  3 , Arnaud Gacouin  8   9 , Jean-Marc Tadie  10   11
Affiliations

Inter-hospital transport of critically ill patients to manage the intensive care unit surge during the COVID-19 pandemic in France

Benoit Painvin et al. Ann Intensive Care. .

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led authorities to evacuate via various travel modalities critically ill ventilated patients into less crowded units. However, it is not known if interhospital transport impacts COVID-19 patient's mortality in intensive care units (ICUs). A cohort from three French University Hospitals was analysed in ICUs between 15th of March and the 15th of April 2020. Patients admitted to ICU with positive COVID-19 test and mechanically ventilated were recruited.

Results: Among the 133 patients included in the study, 95 (71%) were male patients and median age was 63 years old (interquartile range: 54-71). Overall ICU mortality was 11%. Mode of transport included train (48 patients), ambulance (6 patients), and plane plus helicopter (14 patients). During their ICU stay, 7 (10%) transferred patients and 8 (12%) non-transferred patients died (p = 0.71). Median SAPS II score at admission was 33 (interquartile range: 25-46) for the transferred group and 35 (27-42) for non-transferred patients (p = 0.53). SOFA score at admission was 4 (3-6) for the transferred group versus 3 (2-5) for the non-transferred group (p = 0.25). In the transferred group, median PaO2/FiO2 ratio (P/F) value in the 24 h before departure was 197 mmHg (160-250) and remained 166 mmHg (125-222) in the first 24 h post arrival (p = 0.13). During the evacuation 46 (68%) and 21 (31%) of the patients, respectively, benefited from neuromuscular blocking agents and from vasopressors. Transferred and non-transferred patients had similar rate of nosocomial infections, 37/68 (54%) versus 34/65 (52%), respectively (p = 0.80). Median length of mechanical ventilation was significantly increased in the transferred group compared to the non-transferred group, 18 days (11-24) and 14 days (8-20), respectively (p = 0.007). Finally, ICU and hospital length of stay did not differ between groups.

Conclusions: In France, inter-hospital evacuation of COVID-19 ventilated ICU patients did not appear to increase mortality and therefore could be proposed to manage ICU surges in the future.

Keywords: ARDS; COVID-19; Hospital transport; Intensive care unit; Mechanical ventilation; Mortality.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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