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Objectives: Poor prognosis and lack of effective therapeutic options have made palliative care an integral part of the management of severe COVID-19. However, clinical studies on the role of palliative care in severe COVID-19 patients are lacking. The objective of our study was to evaluate the utility of palliative care in intubated COVID-19 patients and its impact on in-hospital outcomes., Methods: Rate of palliative care consult, patient-level variables (age, sex, race, income, insurance type), hospital-level variables (region, type, size) and in-hospital outcome variables (mortality, cost, disposition, complications) were recorded., Results: We retrospectively analysed 263 855 intubated COVID-19 patients using National Inpatient Sample database from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020. 65 325 (24.8%) patients received palliative care consult. Factors associated with an increased rate of palliative care consults included: female gender (p<0.001), older age (p<0.001), Caucasian race (p<0.001), high household income (p<0.001), Medicare insurance (p<0.001), admission to large-teaching hospitals (p<0.001), patients with underlying comorbidities, development of in-hospital complications and the need for intensive care procedures. Patients receiving palliative consults had shorter hospital length of stay (LOS) (p<0.001) and no difference in hospitalisation cost (p=0.15)., Conclusions: Palliative care utilisation rate in intubated COVID-19 patients was reflective of disease severity and disparities in healthcare access. Palliative care may help reduce hospital LOS. Our findings also highlight importance of improving access to palliative care services and its integration into the multidisciplinary management of severe COVID-19 patients., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background: Coronavirus-19, primarily a respiratory virus, affects multiple organs and can lead to exacerbation of autoimmune or systemic conditions. Patients with autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis particularly, are susceptible to infection and complications from COVID-19. RA has become well-associated with COVID-19 infections, but large-scale studies evaluating outcomes among this vulnerable group are limited., Methods: For the retrospective analysis, we used the National Inpatient Sample database to compare COVID-19 patients with and without RA. A total of 1,050,040 adult hospitalizations were included in the study between January 1 to December 31, 2020: COVID-19 with RA ( n = 21,545; 2.1%) and COVID-19 without RA ( n = 1,028,495; 97.9%). The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes included mechanical ventilation requirement, vasopressor use, cardiac arrest, cardiogenic shock, acute kidney injury, acute kidney injury requiring hemodialysis, gastrostomy, tracheostomy, length of stay, health care utilization costs, and disposition. A secondary analysis evaluating in-hospital mortality and mechanical ventilation with respect to age was conducted., Results: COVID-19 patients with RA had significantly increased in-hospital mortality compared to COVID-19 patients without RA (12.9% vs 11.1%, adjusted OR [aOR]: 1.2 [95% CI 1.1-1.3], p < 0.001). This cohort also had significantly increased rates of mechanical ventilation, pressor use, and cardiogenic shock., Conclusions: Given limited large evidence regarding COVID-19 with respect to RA, future research should be focused on this topic to improve outcomes for this subset of patients., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2024 Greater Baltimore Medical Center.)