Abstract

Backround: COVID-19 is an respiratory virus with a broad spectrum of infection that ranges from being asymptomatic to causing respiratory failure and death. In our country, two massive outbreaks of infections were registered, having to reorganize units in order to respond to the high hospital demand, which seems relevant to us to be able to observe and compare the demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients admitted to our unit in these waves. Method: It is a retrospective observational study. That analyzed demographic and clinical data from two different periods of the pandemic outbreak. Results: A total of 36 patients (17 and 19 respectively) were included in the study, during the second outbreak they were significantly younger than the first (50 ± 12 vs 60 ± 10 years; p = 0.015), it was also seen a decrease in MV days (9 ± 6 vs 19 ± 9 days, respectively; p = 0.003) and in hospital stay (19 ± 9 vs 38 ± 20 days, respectively; p = 0.007). Conclusions: The patients admitted to a converted ICU during the pandemic, in the period corresponding to the second outbreak, were younger subjects, who required fewer days of IMV and shorter hospital stay. This may reflect better management by the health team. However, no differences were observed in mortality between the two groups.