COVID 19 severe pneumonia in Mexico City First experience in a Mexican hospital

Background Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic since its first confirmed case, has changed the world. The need for accurate and truthful information is vital. Mexico and Latin America have been widely affected, so having local epidemiological data, will be of great clinical utility. Methods A total of 33 hospitalized patients with Covid-19 pneumonia (either severe or critical) were identified from electronic health record in a third level care private hospital in Mexico City from March 13rd to April 13rd, 2020. We conducted a descriptive study of patients for characterization of the clinical, laboratory and radiologic findings, as well as complications. Results The mean age was 60.6±12.68 years and 23 (69.7%) were males. Twenty-three patients (69.6%) were overweight or obese. The median duration of symptoms before admission was 7 days. All the patients required mechanical invasive ventilation. The median duration of the mechanical ventilation was 12±2.6 days and all patients were extubated except one. All patients were started on antiviral treatment in the first 24 hours after admission once the diagnosis of Covid19 pneumonia was made. There was no difference between the treatment option and the length of stay. The extubation rate was higher (91.6%) than in other series, with no fatalities even though they were treated with different regimens. Conclusions This one-centre experience describes the epidemiology, treatment and outcome of 33 patients with severe or critical COVID pneumonia admitted to the ICU. Most patients in our series were overweight or obese male, which we observed were of higher risk to present critical pneumonia, as well as high levels of Interleukin-6. The foregoing is relevant, due to the high incidence of these comorbidities in our country. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement No funding ### Author Declarations All relevant ethical guidelines have been followed; any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained and details of the IRB/oversight body are included in the manuscript. Yes All necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.