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Patients receiving care in the hospital today have a better chance of survival than last spring.
More knowledge in health has reduced mortality.
– The feeling is that things are much better for patients now, says SVT infection physician Ola Blennow.
The spread of the coronavirus is increasing in Sweden. And in healthcare, this means that the number of patients needing care is also increasing. This also applies to the number of patients in intensive care units (IVA).
But at the same time that medical care has learned to control the disease, mortality has also decreased, which SVT Nyheter previously reported on. And now you can see strong hope that the downsizing will continue.
– It is a big difference. Among those of us working with this, he feels much more hopeful than he did last spring. The feeling is that now things are going much better for patients. Both in IVA and in the wards, Ola Blennow, an infection doctor at Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge tells SVT.
Photograph: Staffan Löwstedt / SvD / TT
VAT health personnel at Södertälje hospital during the 2020 corona crisis. Note: file image.
Take better care
In late October, a Swedish registry study was presented showing the reduction in mortality among COVID-19 patients who were treated in hospital. Between March and June, it went from 24.7 to 13.3 percent, calculated up to 60 days after the diagnosis inclusive. During the same period, mortality among patients treated for IVA fell from 36 to 20 percent.
Ola Blennow and her colleague, infection doctor Hilmir Ásgeirsson, this is because patient care has improved. Both with regard to the drugs used, as well as other treatments.
– In the past, patients used to be quickly anesthetized and intubated when they came to IVA. Partly because he was afraid of spreading the infection, partly because that’s how he usually does it. But we have gradually learned that many of these patients can often survive for a long time on oxygen alone, they explain to SVT.
In this way, some patients do not need to sleep on a respirator. A treatment whose stress on the body can pose a risk in itself.
The medication of patients with covid-19 has also been improved. After it became known last spring that people with COVID-19 are at risk for blood clots, especially in the lungs, a clot-dissolving treatment is now being administered for preventive purposes, according to Blennow.
Photo: Magnus Andersson / TT
Staff of the intensive care unit at Nyköping Hospital. Note: file image.
Time and factor
The antiviral drug Remdesivir has also come into greater use.
– We have started to use more and more belt straps. It’s not for everyone, but for the right patients and at the right time, early in the process, it can have an effect, Hilmir Ásgeirsson tells SVT.
Time also seems to be a factor. Something that you might also see as a difference from this spring is that patients arrive earlier. They are then in another phase of the disease, which also increases the chances of survival.
Photo: Hannah McKay / TT NEWS AGENCY
English covid patient. Note: file image.
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