Covid patients in Finland are spending less time in ICUs than last spring, but more of them are dying as the share of people over the age of 60 receiving intensive treatment grows. Today one in five Covid patients don't make it out of ICUs.
Patients now spend an average of 11 days in ICUs, down from 14 days at the end of last August, hospital figures extending to February show.
However the rising average age of those admitted to ICUs this year has contributed to a slight rise in death rates, as those over 60 have a higher risk of succumbing to the virus than younger adults.
Dexamethasone and less invasive ventilation
Intensive Care expert Matti Reinikainen said two factors were contributing to shorter ICU stays: the steroid dexamethasone, which has been administered to patients since last summer, and ICUs putting fewer patients on ventilators, a procedure requiring general anesthesia.
Dexamethasone, the same drug that former US President Donald Trump took as parts of his treatment, helps control inflammation and prevent lung damage--an approach reducing the need to ventilate patients.
This year, some 40 percent of Covid patients have received intubation and ventilation, down from 60 percent at the end of last summer.
Reinikainen, who heads anesthesiology and intensive care at Kuopio University Hospital, said less invasive care had most likely helped speed patients’ recovery.
ICU deaths up
More patients admitted to ICUs are now dying than during the first wave of the pandemic. Reinikainen said this was due to the older age of patients now being admitted.
At the end of last August 16 percent of Covid patients admitted to ICUs died. Today that number has risen to 21 percent.
Less than a quarter of those in ICUs last spring were between 60 and 69 years of age, but now that age group makes up more than 35 percent.
Last year, 70-79 year-olds made up some 15 percent of ICU patients. Now they are more than a quarter of those admitted.
No time to relax
Reinikainen said Finland needs to raise more crisis awareness around the pandemic to help prevent hospitals from filling up with Covid patients.
"Last spring a new and frightening disease deserted city streets. You don’t see that now," he said. "The [hospitalisation] trend is pointing up."
Public health institute THL estimates that between 25 and 44 Covid patients will require ICU care in the coming week. This would mean that Finland could see as many people in intensive care as it did during last spring’s one-time peak of 83 ICU patients.