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Background: There are limited data on the long-term outcomes of COVID-19 from different parts of the world. Aims: To determine risk factors of 90-day mortality in critically ill patients in Turkish intensive care units (ICUs), with respiratory failure. Study design: Retrospective, observational cohort. Methods: Patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and who had been followed up in the ICUs with respiratory failure for more than 24 hours were included in the study. Their demographics, clinical characteristics, laboratory variables, treatment protocols, and survival data were recorded. Results: A total of 421 patients were included. The median age was 67 (IQR: 57-76) years, and 251 patients (59.6%) were men. The 90-day mortality rate was 55.1%. The factors independently associated with 90-day mortality were invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) (HR 4.09 [95% CI: [2.20-7.63], P < .001), lactate level >2 mmol/L (2.78 [1.93-4.01], P < .001), age >60 years (2.45 [1.48-4.06)], P < .001), cardiac arrhythmia during ICU stay (2.01 [1.27-3.20], P = .003), vasopressor treatment (1.94 [1.32-2.84], P = .001), positive fluid balance of ≥600 mL/day (1.68 [1.21-2.34], P = .002), PaO2/FiO2 ratio of ≤150 mmHg (1.66 [1.18-2.32], P = .003), and ECOG score ≥ 1 (1.42 [1.00-2.02], P = .050). Conclusion: Long-term mortality was high in critically ill patients with COVID-19 hospitalized in intensive care units in Turkey. Invasive mechanical ventilation, lactate level, age, cardiac arrhythmia, vasopressor therapy, positive fluid balance, severe hypoxemia and ECOG score were the independent risk factors for 90-day mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKp) is among the leading causes of hospital-acquired infections worldwide and causes serious and life-threatening infections. Treatment options are very limited for blood stream infections (BSIs) and prognosis is poor due to increasing multi-drug resistance. The aim of this study was to assess risk factors for the mortality due to CRKp-BSI. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in a university hospital from September 2013 to October 2017. Patients (aged >16 years) with CRKp-BSI were included in this study. Data, including demographics, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II) score on hospitalisation date, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of CRKp, antibiotic treatment and outcome (30-day mortality) data were collected from the electronic medical records and microbiology databases. Results: A total of 82 patients with CRKP-BSIs were analysed. The median age was 54.5 years, and 48 (58.5%) of them were male. The median APACHE II score on hospitalisation was 14 (IQR 6-28) and CCI was 4.0 (IQR 0-12). Forty-six (56.1%) patients had ICU-acquired bacteremia and 36 (43.9%) had central-line associated bacteremia and 25 (30.5%) had primary bacteremia. Fifty (61.0%) patients had combination therapy, colistin/tigecycline (28%) was the most used antibiotic combination. The mortality of all patients was 56.1% (46/82) and 65.2% (30/46) in ICU patients. In univariate analysis, risk factors for the mortality of CRKp-BSI were high CCI, not having clinical response on the fifth day of treatment, high APACHE II score on hospitalisation and infection date and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. In multivariate analysis, the most significant risk factor for mortality was APACHE II score on infection day (OR: 1.190; 95% CI: 1.088-1.301). Treatment regimens and combination therapy vs. monotherapy were not found to be significantly associated with survival. In addition, MIC values of CRKp were not associated with mortality. Conclusions: Patients with CRKp-BSI had high mortality (56.1%). APACHE II score on infection day was significantly associated with mortality. The outcome was similar between patients receiving combination (54.3%) or monotherapy (45.7%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In this study, we aimed to determine the contact risk levels of infected health care workers for patients with COVID- 19 and to evaluate their disease status. Methods: Health care workers with COVID-19 were analyzed, retrospectively. Close contact with patients was classified as high, medium, low-risk or risk-free contact according to the use of personal protective equipment, and transmission levels were evaluated. Symptoms and disease severity after infection were determined. Results: A total of 82 health care workers were infected during the study period, and only 2% had high-risk contact status. There was risk-free contact in 71% of the patients. Community/ family-borne contaminations were detected as the main source of transmission. 82% of the infected health care workers have developed at least one symptom. Fever (65%) and dry cough 54%) were more common symptoms. According to their clinical severity, 66% of them had mild illness. Only one had severe illness. All the health care workers with COVID-19 recovered and were discharged. Conclusions: Health care workers are at increased risk of COVID- 19 transmission. In addition to the use of appropriate personal protective equipment, masks and social distance rules should be followed in social settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to investigate CURB-65, quick COVID-19 Severity Index (qCSI) and quick Sepsis Related Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) scores in predicting mortality and risk factors for death in patients with COVID-19. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a total of 1919 cases for whom the rRT-PCR assay for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was positive. For mortality risk factors, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used. Receiver operator characteristics (ROC) analysis and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis were performed for CURB-65, qCSI and qSOFA scores. Results: The patients' average age was 45.7 (21.6) years. Male patients accounted for 51.7% (n = 992). In univariate analysis, some clinical variables including age over 65 years and comorbid diseases such as hypertension, chronic kidney disease, malignancy, lymphopenia, troponin, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and fibrinogen elevation were associated with the mortality rate. In multivariate logistic regression analysis: Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) 3.3 and above (OR, 9.1; 95% CI, 1.9--42), C-reactive protein (CRP)30 mg/L and above (OR, 4.1; 95% CI, 1.2--13.6), D-dimer 1000 ng/mL and above (OR, 4; 95% CI, 1.5--10.7) and age (OR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.04--1.18-year increase) were identified as risk factors for mortality among COVID-19 patients. The CURB-65 and qCSI scores exhibited a high degree of discrimination in mortality prediction (AUC values were 0.928 and 0.865, respectively). Also, the qSOFA score had a moderate discriminant power (AUC value was 0.754). Conclusion: CURB-65 and qSCI scores had a high discriminatory power to predict mortality. Also, this study identified CURB-65, qCSI and qSOFA scores, NLR, CRP, D-dimer level, and annual age increase as important mortality risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]