PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Zarir F Udwadia
AU  - Kedar K Toraskar
AU  - Lancelot Pinto
AU  - Jai Mullerpatan
AU  - Haresh D Wagh
AU  - Joanne M Mascarenhas
AU  - Bhavesh M Gandhi
AU  - Awatansh Tripathi
AU  - Ayesha Sunavala
AU  - Umang Agrawal
AU  - Viral Nanda
AU  - Nikita Abraham
AU  - Bony Francis
AU  - Ravindra R Zore
AU  - Gurudas Pundpal
AU  - Bhoosan Gondse
AU  - Gaurav A Gupta
TI  - Increased frequency of pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum in COVID-19 patients admitted in the ICU: A multicentre study from Mumbai, India
AID  - 10.7861/clinmed.2021-0220
DP  - 2021 Nov 01
TA  - Clinical Medicine
PG  - e615--e619
VI  - 21
IP  - 6
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/21/6/e615.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/21/6/e615.full
SO  - Clin Med2021 Nov 01; 21
AB  - Background There are limited data regarding the incidence of pneumothorax in COVID-19 patients as well as the impact of the same on patient outcomes.Methods A retrospective review of the medical records at three large tertiary care hospitals in Mumbai was performed to identify patients hospitalised with COVID-19 from March 2020 to October 2020. The presence of pneumothorax and/or pneumomediastinum was noted when chest radiographs or CT scans were performed. Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients who developed air leak were recorded.Results 4,906 patients with COVID-19 were admitted, with 1,324 (27%) having severe COVID-19 disease. The overall incidence of pneumothorax and/or pneumomediastinum in patients with severe disease was 3.2% (42/1,324). Eighteen patients had pneumothorax, 16 had pneumomediastinum and 8 patients had both. Fourteen patients (33.3%) developed this complication breathing spontaneously, 28 patients (66.6%) developed it during mechanical ventilation. Overall mortality in this cohort was 74%, compared with 17% in the COVID-19 patients without pneumothorax (p<0.001).Conclusions Our study demonstrates that air leaks occur with a higher frequency in patients with COVID-19 than in other ICU patients. When present, such air leaks contributed to poor outcomes with almost 74% mortality rates in these patients.