‘The principal finding of our study was that in-hospital mortality following critical care admission for COVID-19 infection in Africa occurred in 48·2% (95% CI 46·4–50·0) of 3077 patients in the 30 days after high-care or intensive care unit admission, with an excess mortality of 11–23 deaths per 100 patients compared with the global average. Mortality was associated with increasing age, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, chronic liver disease, kidney disease, a high severity of organ dysfunction on presentation, and increasing respiratory and cardiovascular support. A shortage of critical care resources could have contributed to increased mortality…’
This is higher than the global average (less than a third). The authors also found no sex differences in mortality, which contrasts with higher mortality in men in other regions.
A BBC news item says: “Mortality is way higher in Africa than any other region because of limited resources,” one of the leaders of the research, Prof Bruce Biccard from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, told the BBC’s Newsday programme. “In fact only one of two patients who are referred to critical care actually get into critical care. And once they’re there, therapies we can provide are way less than they should be…more