African COVID-19 Critical Care Outcomes Study
ACCCOS Lancet ArticleACCCOS Lancet Supplementary Appendix
STATEMENT
Please see the following statement from the ACCCOS principal investigators Prof Biccard and Prof Gopalan.
Read more
SYNOPSIS
BACKGROUND
The infectious disease COVID-19, caused by coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), has been declared a pandemic and an international healthcare emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO). It has spread across the globe, overwhelming healthcare systems by causing high rates of critical illness. Mortality from COVID-19 exceeds 4%, with older people with comorbidities being extremely vulnerable. It is expected that between 50-80% of the world’s population may contract SARS-CoV-2 over the next two years.
We expect the outcomes to be potentially worse in Africa, because firstly, there is a limited workforce, and secondly there are limited intensive care facilities and critical care resources across Africa to provide sufficient care.
It is important therefore to establish what resources, comorbidities and interventions are potentially associated with either mortality or survival in patients with COVID-19 who are referred for critical care in Africa. Rapid dissemination of these findings may help mitigate mortality from COVID-19 in critical care patients in Africa. These points provide the rationale for the African COVID-19 Critical Care Outcomes Study (ACCCOS).
Read more