Critically ill patients with COVID-19 ‘don’t fare worse than others’

Australian study finds no excess mortality or disability compared with other survivors of acute respiratory failure

Patients with COVID-19 requiring mechanical ventilation are no more likely than other critically ill ventilated patients to have a legacy of poor physical or psychological functioning, a study shows.

Critical care researchers, led by Professor Carol Hodgson from Monash University, had hypothesised that patients with acute respiratory failure due to COVID-19 might be more likely to die or develop new disabilities.