Methodology of a Large Multicenter Observational Study of Patients with COVID-19 in Spanish Intensive Care Units

The COVID-19 pandemic created tremendous challenges for health-care systems. Intensive care units (ICU) were hit with a large volume of patients requiring ICU admission, mechanical ventilation, and other organ support with very high mortality. The Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red-Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), a network of Spanish researchers to investigate in respiratory disease, commissioned the current proposal in response to the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) call. CIBERESUCICOVID is a multicenter, observational, prospective/retrospective cohort study of patients with COVID-19 admitted to Spanish ICUs. Several work packages were created, including study population and ICU data collection, follow-up, biomarkers and miRNAs, data management and quality. This study included 6102 consecutive patients admitted to 55 ICUs homogeneously distributed throughout Spain and the collection of blood samples from more than 1000 patients. We enrolled a large population of COVID-19 ICU-admitted patients including baseline characteristics, ICU and MV data, treatments complications, and outcomes. The in-hospital mortality was 31%, and 76% of patients required invasive mechanical ventilation. A 3-6 month and 1 year follow-up was performed. Few deaths after 1 year discharge were registered. Low anti-SARS-CoV-2 S antibody levels predict mortality in critical COVID-19. These antibodies contribute to prevent systemic dissemination of SARS-CoV-2. The severity of COVID-19 impacts the circulating miRNA profile. Plasma miRNA profiling emerges as a useful tool for risk-based patient stratification in critically ill COVID-19 patients. We present the methodology used in a large multicenter study sponsored by ISCIII to determine the short- and long-term outcomes in patients with COVID-19 admitted to more than 50 Spanish ICUs. La pandemia de COVID-19ha supuesto un enorme reto para los sistemas sanitarios. Las unidades de cuidados intensivos (UCI) se han visto afectadas por un gran volumen de pacientes que requerían ingreso en la UCI, ventilación mecánica y otras asistencias de órganos con gran mortalidad. El Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red-Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), una red de investigadores españoles para el estudio de enfermedades respiratorias, encargó la presente propuesta en respuesta a la convocatoria del Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII). CIBERESUCICOVID es un estudio de cohortes multicéntrico, observacional, prospectivo/retrospect