Some new studies undertaken by researchers in the United Kingdom seem to indicate that the mortality rate for patients infected with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit has fallen by around a third since the pandemic began. The research, which was published in Anaesthesia, a medical academic journal, followed the mortality of COVID-19 in ICUs and it observed a decline from more than 50 percent in March to about 42 percent in May. This observation was not just made by British researchers. The same effect is present in Asia, Europe and North America.
Why the Numbers Are Dropping
Health officials believe that this decrease in mortality is related to a number of factors: criteria for being admitted to the ICU has changed, there is a better understanding of how COVID-19 complications and regular symptoms should be treated within the medical community, and there are more resources available in healthcare facilities compared to how many there were at the beginning of the pandemic, back when the world was entirely unprepared for the event.
A Health Expert’s View
The decline is definitely not something to overlook, but it is still higher for ICU patients with COVID-19 than it is for patients with regular viral pneumonias. Dr. Jonathan Siner, a critical care physician, medical director of the medical ICU and pulmonologist affiliated with Yale medicine, explained that health experts are happy that the mortality rate is decreasing, but COVID-19 is still a dangerous affection, both death and long-term disability being a serious risk for the patients.
The Meta-Analysis
To get a better understanding of how the mortality rate works amongst patients suffering of COVID-19 in the ICU, scientists performed a review and a meta-analysis of 24 different observational studies. After looking at 10,150 patients, they have noticed a huge drop in mortality rate in ICUs all over the world. The mortality rate fell from 50 percent to 42 percent in just two months, which is impressive.