Pneumothorax in Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients: Prevalence, Analysis of Risk Factors and Clinical Outcomes

Zeead AlGhamdi,1 Shaya Y Alqahtani,2 Khalid AlDajani,1 Ammar Alsaedi,1 Omar Al-Rubaish,1 Abdulmajeed Alharbi,1 Hatem Elbawab1 1Thoracic Surgery Division, Department of Surgery, College of medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia; 2Department of Internal Medicine and Critical Care Medicine, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Zeead AlGhamdi, Thoracic surgery division, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Tel +966504845350, Email zghamdi@iau.edu.saBackground: Previous studies have been conducted to assess pneumothorax. However, few studies were done to assess pneumothorax in COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit (ICU).Objective: Our aim is to describe and analyze the prevalence, clinical characteristics, risk factors, and outcomes of COVID-19 pneumothorax patients in the intensive care unit.Methods: We performed a retrospective review of the medical records of 418 patients, who tested positive for COVID-19 by polymerase chain reaction test and required ICU admission in King Fahad Hospital of The University from 02/01/2020 to 01/09/2021. A total number of 36 pneumothorax patients were included in the study.Results: Of 418 patients who were followed up in the intensive care unit as COVID-19 cases, 36 patients developed a pneumothorax (8.61%). The mean age of the patients was 55.6 ± 15.06 years, 23 patients were male, and 13 were female. Seventeen patients were obese, and only one patient was an active smoker. Twenty-four patients had at least one comorbidity; hypertension was the most common. Thirty-two patients were intubated, and the duration of intubation was 23.23 ± 15.9 days. The time from intubation to pneumothorax development was 8.8 ± 9.3 days. Six patients were on bilevel positive airway pressure ventilation (BIPAP), 2 patients on continuous positive airway pressure ventilation (CPAP), 3 patien