Study Objectives: Altered mental status (AMS) is frequently associated with poor outcomes across a wide spectrum of conditions including infections. This study aims to identify whether AMS in emergency department… Click to show full abstract
Study Objectives: Altered mental status (AMS) is frequently associated with poor outcomes across a wide spectrum of conditions including infections. This study aims to identify whether AMS in emergency department (ED) patients with COVID-19 is independently associated with in-hospital mortality. Methods: This was a retrospective multicenter cohort study. We included all patients with a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR within 2 weeks of presentation, who were admitted from the ED of three hospitals in the greater Boston area between March and August 2020. The primary covariate of interest was ED AMS at ED arrival and the primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. The ED charts were abstracted for demographics, comorbid conditions, symptoms, laboratory testing, and radiology testing along with in-hospital outcomes. AMS was defined by documentation of changes in mental status from baseline. We used logistic regression modeling with backwards elimination to determine an adjusted estimate for the independent association of AMS with mortality. Results: We included 824 visits with 51% male, a mean age was 67.1 (SD 17.0) and 153 (18.6%) had AMS. There were 132 deaths for an overall mortality rate of 16.1%. Patients with AMS had in-hospital mortality of 38.2% (95% CI 30.4%-46.4%), compared to 11.1% (8.8%-13.7%) for patients without AMS (p<0.0001). After adjusting for potential confounders, visits by patients with AMS during their stay at the ED had 3.1 (95% CI, 2.1-5.9) times the odds of death compared to those without AMS. Conclusion: Among patients with COVID-19, AMS in the ED was associated with three-fold increase in mortality compared to patients without AMS.
               
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