Australian patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19 have done relatively well, with an ICU mortality rate much lower than that reported in comparable countries such as the UK and US, a new study shows.

But despite escaping the worst of the pandemic so far, the findings highlight a “substantial” burden of the disease on Australian hospital resources, the researchers say.

The team led by intensivist Dr Aidan Burrell, from Monash University and The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, analysed outcomes data from 204 patients (median age 64) with COVID-19 seen in more than 40 hospital ICUs across the country between February and June last year.

The most frequent comorbidities in the mostly male cohort were obesity (40%), diabetes (28%), hypertension treated with ACE inhibitors or ARBs (24%) and chronic cardiac disease (20%).