Fethi Gül, Umut Sabri Kasapoğlu, Mehmet Süleyman Sabaz, Pınar Ay, Burçin Doruk Oktay, Gülbahar Çalışkan, Nalan Demir, İsmet Sayan, Feyyaz Kabadayı, Gülsüm Altuntaş, Ayça Gümüş, Hülya Kırca, Deniz Şanlı, Fatma Acil, Andaç Dedeoğlu, Sedef Gülçin Ural, İrem Akın Şen, Eda Macit Aydın, Hakan Dayanır, Birgül Yelken, İlkay Ceylan, Osman Özcan Aydın, Güneş Eskidemir, Ahmet Aytekin, Melike Cengiz, Ülkü Arslan, Devrim Akdağ, Gülçin Hilal Alay, Esra Tekin, Volkan Yarar, Kemal Tolga Saracoğlu, Funda Gök, Volkan Alparslan, Verda Tuna, Murside Yıldız, Nimet Şenoğlu, Cenk Kıraklı, Süleyman Yıldırım, Kübra Saçar Kübüç, Ayşen Erer, Hamza Gültekin, Kezban Özmen Süner, Özge Kuzgun, Çağatay Erman Öztürk, Aydın Karahan, Okan Deveci, Mustafa Ay, Dilara Tüfek Öztan, Seda Banu Akıncı, Melahat Yalçın Solak, Süha Bozbay, Serhat Özçiftçi, Kamil Gönderen, Ahmet Oğuzhan Küçük, Berna Uyan, Gülseren Elay, Nazlıhan Boyacı, Mustafa Timurkaan, Ebru Karakoç, Lerzan Doğan, Erdem Yalçınkaya, Leyla Kazancıoğlu, Gül Erdal Dönmez, Barış Yılmaz, Dursun Fırat Ergül, Maruf Boran, Hüseyin Özkarakaş, Buğra Karakaş, Perihan Ergin Özcan, İlkay Anaklı, Mustafa Kemal Bayar, Didem Yüksel, Şükriye Akdağ, Özcan Pişkin, Sibel Temur, Selin Eyüpoğlu, Elvan Tekir Yılmaz, Gizem Zaim Avcı, Raziye Turan, Fatma Alkan Bayburt, Helin Şahintürk, Bülent Güçyetmez, Mustafa Muhlis Alparslan, Metin Yarıcı, Fatma Yıldırım, Abdulkadir Yektaş, Güçlü Yaman, Oktay Demirkıran, and İsmail Cinel
Background:Vaccines against coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) have been effective in preventing symptomatic diseases, hospitalizations, and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. However, data regarding the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in reducing mortality among critically ill patients with COVID-19 remains unclear.Aims:To determine the vaccination status and investigate the impact of the COVID-19 vaccine on the 28-day mortality in critically ill patients with COVID-19.Study Design:Multicenter prospective observational clinical study.Methods:This study was conducted in 60 hospitals with ICUs managing critically ill patients with COVID-19. Patients aged ≥ 18 years with confirmed COVID-19 who were admitted to the ICU were included. The present study had two phases. The first phase was designed as a one-day point prevalence study, and demographic and clinical findings were evaluated. In the second phase, the 28-day mortality was evaluated.Results:As of August 11, 2021, 921 patients were enrolled in the study. The mean age of the patients was 65.42 ± 16.74 years, and 48.6% (n = 448) were female. Among the critically ill patients with COVID-19, 52.6% (n = 484) were unvaccinated, 7.7% (n = 71) were incompletely vaccinated, and 39.8% (n = 366) were fully vaccinated. A subgroup analysis of 817 patients who were unvaccinated (n = 484) or who had received two doses of the CoronaVac vaccine (n = 333) was performed. The 28-day mortality rate was 56.8% (n = 275) and 57.4% (n = 191) in the unvaccinated and two-dose CoronaVac groups, respectively. The 28-day mortality was associated with age, hypertension, the number of comorbidities, type of respiratory support, and APACHE II and sequential organ failure assessment scores (p < 0.05). The odds ratio for the 28-day mortality among those who had received two doses of CoronaVac was 0.591 (95% confidence interval: 0.413-0.848) (p = 0.004).Conclusion:Vaccination with at least two doses of CoronaVac within six months significantly decreased mortality in vaccinated patients than in unvaccinated patients.