Is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) a new standard of care for type 1 respiratory failure in COVID-19 patients? A retrospective observational study of a dedicated COVID-19 CPAP service

Is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) a new standard of care for type 1 respiratory failure in COVID-19 patients? A retrospective observational study of a dedicated COVID-19 CPAP service

Gareth Jones, Mike Beadsworth, Kathryn Haigh, Rebecca Nightingale, Manish Gautam, Nneka Nwosu, Farheen Kutubudin, Joe Lewis, Frederick Frost, Deborah Brown, Michael Abouyannis, Peter Hampshire, Stephen Aston, Hassan Burhan

The aim of this case series is to describe and evaluate our experience of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) to treat type 1 respiratory failure in patients with COVID-19. CPAP was delivered in negative pressure rooms in the newly repurposed infectious disease unit. We report a cohort of 24 patients with type 1 respiratory failure and COVID-19 admitted to the Royal Liverpool Hospital between 1 April and 30 April 2020. Overall, our results were positive; we were able to safely administer CPAP outside the walls of a critical care or high dependency unit environment and over half of patients (58%) avoided mechanical ventilation and a total of 19 out of 24 (79%) have survived and been discharged from our care.

2020

10.1136/bmjresp-2020-000639

Epidemiology and Health

Korean Society of Epidemiology

Medicine, Diseases of the respiratory system