Pneumomediastinum in COVID-19: a phenotype of severe COVID-19 pneumonitis? The results of the UK POETIC survey

Background: There is an emerging understanding that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with increased incidence of pneumomediastinum (PTM). We aimed to determine its incidence among patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in the UK and describe factors associated with outcome. Methods: A structured survey of PTM and its incidence was conducted from September 2020 to February 2021. UK-wide participation was solicited via respiratory research networks. Identified patients had severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and radiologically proven PTM. The primary outcomes were to determine incidence of PTM in COVID-19 and to investigate risk factors associated with patient mortality. Results: 377 cases of PTM in COVID-19 were identified from 58 484 inpatients with COVID-19 at 53 hospitals during the study period, giving an incidence of 0.64%. Overall 120-day mortality in COVID-19 PTM was 195 out of 377 (51.7%). PTM in COVID-19 was associated with high rates of mechanical ventilation. 172 out of 377 patients (45.6%) were mechanically ventilated at the point of diagnosis. Mechanical ventilation was the most important predictor of mortality in COVID-19 PTM at the time of diagnosis and thereafter (p<0.001), along with increasing age (p<0.01) and diabetes mellitus (p=0.08). Switching patients from continuous positive airway pressure support to oxygen or high-flow nasal oxygen after the diagnosis of PTM was not associated with difference in mortality. Conclusions: PTM appears to be a marker of severe COVID-19 pneumonitis. The majority of patients in whom PTM was identified had not been mechanically ventilated at the point of diagnosis.

Citation

Melhorn, J., Achaiah, A., Conway, F. M., Thompson, E. M. F., Skyllberg, E. W., Durrant, J., Hasan, N. A., Madani, Y., Naran, P., Vijayakumar, B., Tate, M. J., Trevelyan, G. E., Zaki, I., Doig, C. A., Lynch, G., Warwick, G., Aujayeb, A., Jackson, K. A., Iftikhar, H., Noble, J. H., … Hallifax, R. J. (2022). Pneumomediastinum in COVID-19: a phenotype of severe COVID-19 pneumonitis? The results of the UK POETIC survey. The European respiratory journal, 60(3), 2102522. https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.02522-2021

DOI

10.1183/13993003.02522-2021

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14709/606

Usage rights

CC BY 4.0

License

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/