Nearly 90% of COVID patients who didn't get critical care therapy they needed died despite being young and healthy, study says

Nearly 90% of COVID patients who didn't get critical care therapy they needed died despite being young and healthy, study says Researchers found nearly 90% of patients needing ECMO, but didn’t receive it, died in the hospital despite being young with few other health issues. Adrianna Rodriguez USA TODAY

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reconfigures its masking guidelines to consider health systems, a recent study highlights the importance of keeping hospital capacity and resources at the forefront of pandemic strategy.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center looked at how a shortage of ECMO machines affected COVID-19 patients at the height of the pandemic, according to the report published last week in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

An extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine, or ECMO, is a heart-lung device that pumps blood out of the body, removes carbon dioxide, and sends oxygen-filled blood back to the body, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Once a patient was determined to be medically eligible to receive ECMO, a separate assessment was performed to determine hospital resources. If resources were not available, the patient was not transferred to an ECMO center.

The team found nearly 90% of the 55 patients who were referred for ECMO between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31, 2021, but didn’t receive it, died in the hospital despite being young with few other health issues. ...