Awake Prone Positioning for COVID-19 Acute Hypoxaemic Respiratory Failure

Awake Prone Positioning for COVID-19 Acute Hypoxaemic Respiratory Failure: Retrospective Cohort Study

The objective of our study is to evaluate the effectiveness of prone position in preventing intubation or death in spontaneously ventilated patients with COVID-19 with acute respiratory failure.

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the management of hypoxemic respiratory failure as limited ICU capacity is strained by a new high-mortality disease and large numbers of patients requiring prolonged periods of hospitalization, as well as respiratory support equipment such as ventilators and intensive care unit (ICU) beds.

If early and prolonged prone positioning (DV) reduces mortality in invasively ventilated patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), its role in conscious patients (DV vigil) remains a subject of debate and research.

This is a retrospective, monocentric, descriptive and analytical cohort conducted over a period of 22 months from March 2020 to December 2021 and involving 1069 patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit of the CHU Mohammed VI of Oujda for the management of acute respiratory failure caused by COVID-19.

Inclusion Criteria:

• all patients (1069 patients) with ARDS due to SARS-cov2, confirmed by nasopharyngeal swab, who were hospitalized in the COVID-19 ICU from March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients with negative CRP
• Younger than 18 years of age
• Patients who died or intubated on the day of admission
• Patients presented a contraindication