Background The COVID-19 pandemic has led highly developed healthcare systems to the brink of collapse due to the large numbers of patients being admitted into hospitals. One of the potential prognostic indicators in patients with COVID-19 is frailty. The degree of frailty could be used to assist both the triage into intensive care, and decisions regarding treatment limitations. Our study sought to determine the interaction of frailty and age in elderly COVID-19 ICU patients. Methods A prospective multicentre study of COVID-19 patients ≥ 70 years admitted to intensive care in 138 ICUs from 28 countries was conducted. The primary endpoint was 30-day mortality. Frailty was assessed using the clinical frailty scale. Additionally, comorbidities, management strategies and treatment limitations were recorded. Results The study included 1346 patients (28% female) with a median age of 75 years (IQR 72–78, range 70–96), 16.3% were older than 80 years, and 21% of the patients were frail. The overall survival at 30 days was 59% (95% CI 56–62), with 66% (63–69) in fit, 53% (47–61) in vulnerable and 41% (35–47) in frail patients (p < 0.001). In frail patients, there was no difference in 30-day survival between different age categories. Frailty was linked to an increased use of treatment limitations and less use of mechanical ventilation. In a model controlling for age, disease severity, sex, treatment limitations and comorbidities, frailty was independently associated with lower survival. Conclusion Frailty provides relevant prognostic information in elderly COVID-19 patients in addition to age and comorbidities. Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT04321265, registered 19 March 2020.

Purpose In Europe, intravenous fosfomycin (IV) is used particularly in difficult-to-treat or complex infections, caused by both Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens including multidrug-resistant strains. Here, we investigated the efficacy and safety of intravenous fosfomycin under real-life conditions. Methods Prospective, multi-center, and non-interventional study in patients with bacterial infections from 20 intensive care units (ICU) in Germany and Austria (NCT01173575). Results Overall, 209 patients were included (77 females, 132 males, mean age: 59 ± 16 years), 194 of which were treated in intensive care (APACHE II score at the beginning of fosfomycin therapy: 23 ± 8). Main indications (± bacteremia or sepsis) were infections of the CNS (21.5%), community-(CAP) and hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP)/ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP, 15.3%), bone and joint infections (BJI, 11%), abdominal infections (11%), and bacteremia (10.5%). Most frequently identified pathogens were S. aureus (22.3%), S. epidermidis (14.2%), Enterococcus spp. (10.8%), E. coli (12.3%) and Klebsiella spp. (7.7%). At least one multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogen was isolated from 51 patients (24.4%). Fosfomycin was administered with an average daily dose of 13.7 ± 3.5 g over 12.4 ± 8.6 days, almost exclusively (99%) in combination with other antibiotics. The overall clinical success was favorable in 81.3% (148/182) of cases, and in 84.8% (39/46) of patients with ≥ 1 MDR pathogen. Noteworthy, 16.3% (34/209) of patients developed at least one, in the majority of cases non-serious, adverse drug reaction during fosfomycin therapy. Conclusion Our data suggest that IV fosfomycin is an effective and safe combination partner for the treatment of a broad spectrum of severe bacterial infections in critically ill patients.

Background: Our aim is to report the results of the ‘liver indication’ subset of patients in the CytoSorb International Registry. Methods: Structured data were recorded. Treatment characteristics and changes from T1 (start of hemoadsorption) to T2 (termination) were evaluated with a special focus on bilirubin, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, interleukin-6, platelet levels, SOFA scores, mortality, and subjective assessment by the attending physicians. Results: Until January 2021, from the total 1434 patients, 109 (age: 49.2 ± 17.1 years, 57.8% males) received treatment for hyperbilirubinemia. APACHE II-predicted mortality was 49.6 ± 26.8%. In the study, 91% of patients were alive at the termination of hemoadsorption and improvement was observed by the physicians in 75 cases. Overall, 65 (59.6%) patients died in the hospital, and 60 (55.0%) died in the ICU. Patients received a median of two treatments for a median of 43 h (interquartile range: 24–72 h) in total. Serum bilirubin levels reduced significantly to −4.6 (95% CI: −6.329 to −2.8) mg/dL. Thrombocytopenia was reported in four patients as an adverse event. Conclusions: We report the largest case series on hemoadsorption for ‘liver indication’ from the CytoSorb International Registry. The finding of significant bilirubin removal observed in our study could have substantial impact in designing and executing further studies on the effects of hemoadsorption in liver dysfunction, which are certainly warranted.

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Purpose The number of patients ≥ 80 years admitted into critical care is increasing. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) added another challenge for clinical decisions for both admission and limitation of life-sustaining treatments (LLST). We aimed to compare the characteristics and mortality of very old critically ill patients with or without COVID-19 with a focus on LLST. Methods Patients 80 years or older with acute respiratory failure were recruited from the VIP2 and COVIP studies. Baseline patient characteristics, interventions in intensive care unit (ICU) and outcomes (30-day survival) were recorded. COVID patients were matched to non-COVID patients based on the following factors: age (± 2 years), Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score (± 2 points), clinical frailty scale (± 1 point), gender and region on a 1:2 ratio. Specific ICU procedures and LLST were compared between the cohorts by means of cumulative incidence curves taking into account the competing risk of discharge and death. Results 693 COVID patients were compared to 1393 non-COVID patients. COVID patients were younger, less frail, less severely ill with lower SOFA score, but were treated more often with invasive mechanical ventilation (MV) and had a lower 30-day survival. 404 COVID patients could be matched to 666 non-COVID patients. For COVID patients, withholding and withdrawing of LST were more frequent than for non-COVID and the 30-day survival was almost half compared to non-COVID patients. Conclusion Very old COVID patients have a different trajectory than non-COVID patients. Whether this finding is due to a decision policy with more active treatment limitation or to an inherent higher risk of death due to COVID-19 is unclear. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00134-022-06642-z.