Clinical and functional status of patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia: an observational study at 2-3 months following discharge.

Introduction: Critically ill COVID-19 patients present long-term sequelae that affect their everyday life. This study aimed to describe the clinical and functional status of patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia at 2-3 months post discharge from a Spanish critical care unit.

Methods: We collected retrospective data from 58 patients admitted to the critical care unit with diagnosis of severe respiratory failure due to COVID-19.

Continuous home oxygen therapy.

Oxygen therapy is defined as the therapeutic use of oxygen and consists of administering oxygen at higher concentrations than those found in room air, with the aim of treating or preventing hypoxia. This therapeutic intervention has been shown to increase survival in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and respiratory failure. Although this concept has been extended by analogy to chronic respiratory failure caused by respiratory and non-respiratory diseases, continuous oxygen therapy has not been shown to be effective in other disorders.