Materials and methodsThis was a multicenter, inception cohort study that included patients aged > 15 years admitted to the ICU with a previous history of influenza-like illness, evolving to acute respiratory failure that required mechanical ventilation during the 2009 winter in the Southern Hemisphere. These moreover patients had confirmed or probable disease caused by the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus and were included in the Registry of Cases of the Argentinian Society of Intensive Care Medicine (SATI), created to characterize local aspects of the pandemic. On 27 June 2009, a form to collect online epidemiological data was posted on the official SATI website. A detailed description and analysis of this information was recently published [14].
There was also an optional, more comprehensive case-report form to complete, developed by experts of the SATI’s Respiratory Committee for recording certain pre-specified variables throughout ICU stay, which included mechanical ventilation (MV), respiratory mechanics, oxygenation, blood chemistry and organ failure variables. This information was collected over 10 days and is analyzed in the present study.Patients were characterized as confirmed, probable or possible cases of 2009 influenza A (H1N1) [20] according to the findings in the respiratory samples collected on admission. Some specimens, however, were not analyzed because laboratories soon became overloaded, especially at the beginning of the pandemic. As of 25 September 2009, the weekly update of the Ministry of Health reported that in patients ��5 years with influenza-like illness, the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus had displaced other respiratory viruses in 93.
4% of the samples processed [23,24]. As a result of this, probable and suspected cases were considered as caused by the novel virus and were so included in the study.We collected dates of hospital and ICU admission, and of MV onset; demographics; risk factors for influenza A; actual weight; height; severity of illness (Acute Physiology And Chronic Health Evaluation II, APACHE II), organ failures (Sequential Organ Failure Assessment, SOFA); type of MV used, as noninvasive (NIV) and invasive; and date of intubation. Ideal body weight (IBW, ml/kg) and body mass index (BMI) were calculated; obesity was defined as a BMI > 30.At MV onset (Day 0) and on Days 3, 7 and 10, until death or discharge, whichever occurred first, we recorded: (1) MV-related variables.
(2) MV modes: volume-controlled ventilation (VCV); pressure-controlled ventilation (PCV); bilevel mode; pressure support ventilation (PSV); other. (3) Tidal volume (Vt, AV-951 in ml/kg of IBW) (4) Pressures: peak, plateau pressures, total positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) and driving pressure (plateau pressure – PEEP), in cmH2O. (5) Static compliance (ml/cmH2O).