Risk factors for mortality in COVID-19 patients in a community teaching hospital

As of December 2020, there were over 450,000 confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in New York City (NYC) with approximately 25,000 deaths. Previous literature identified advanced age, higher severity of illness, elevated inflammatory biomarkers, acute organ dysfunction, comorbidities, and presentation from long-term care facility as risk factors for mortality in patients from Wuhan, China, and the United States. Additional studies conducted in NYC are warranted to confirm these findings. The objective of this study was to assess the risk factors for in-hospital mortality in patients with confirmed COVID-19 infections. This was a retrospective case-control study at The Brooklyn Hospital Center, a 464-bed community teaching hospital. Adult patients with a confirmed COVID-19 infection and who received at least 24 h of COVID-19 therapy were included. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the risk factors for in-hospital mortality. Two-hundred and eighty four patients were included, of whom 95 (33.5%) were nonsurvivors and 189 (66.5%) patients were survivors. Multivariate analysis showed higher in-hospital mortality with advanced age (odds ratio [OR] 6.476; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.827-22.953), presentation from long-term care facility (OR 4.259; 95% CI 1.481-12.250), elevated total bilirubin (OR 4.947; 95% CI 1.048-23.350), vasopressor initiation (OR 36.262; 95% CI 5.319-247.216), and development of renal failure (OR 36.261; 95% CI 2.667-493.046). Risk factors associated with mortality for patients with COVID-19 in a community teaching hospital included advanced age, vasopressor initiation, development of renal failure, elevated total bilirubin, and presentation from long-term care facility.