Mayo Clinic shows, tells how it’s kept COVID-19 in relative check
The Mayo Clinic has had better outcomes with COVID-19 patients than the national average, achieving a mortality rate of 1.1% vs. approximately 3% for the U.S. as a whole.
The Minnesota institution includes its Arizona and Florida operations in a study report detailing its performance from the start of March through the end of July and describing strategies other provider organizations might follow.
These include taking an interprofessional and multidisciplinary team approach, leveraging evidence from clinical trials, deploying remote monitoring tools and maintaining adequate operating capacity so no adjustments are needed during surges.
The report is published Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The senior author is Andrew Badley, MD, chair of Mayo’s COVID-19 research taskforce.
Mayo Clinic treated close to 8,000 patients with confirmed COVID-19 during the study period, according to the report. Of these, slightly more than 7,200 met the team’s criteria for analysis.
Along with the low overall death rate, Badley and colleagues found the ICU had COVID-related mortality of 11.9% while inpatient units came in at 7.1%.
Other findings of comparative interest include:
- The median age of adult patients treated across Mayo Clinic was 59.
- Among the 7,217 adults included in the analysis, 87.6% did not require hospitalization.
- Just over 77.5% of hospitalized patients received at least one COVID therapy, such as an antiviral drug, systemic steroid, immunomodulatory monoclonal antibody or convalescent plasma.
- Nearly 25% of hospitalized patients received two therapies, usually a combination of steroids and antiviral medications.
- Facilities across the Upper Midwest saw 59% of Mayo’s COVID patients, while those in Arizona treated 23% and Florida 18%.
- The most common comorbidities were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (11.8%), diabetes (9.4%), renal disease (6.5%) and peripheral vascular disease (6.2%).
- Of adults treated for COVID on an outpatient basis, 30 died, mostly in hospice or skilled nursing facilities.
- Only 674 patients were under 18, and just 13 pediatric patients were admitted to inpatient units. Pediatric mortality was zero.
Badley and co-authors note there were slightly more male patients than female patients, and male patients were more likely to require hospitalization.
In coverage of the study by the Mayo Clinic News Network, Badley shares credit for the evident success with peers fighting COVID elsewhere.
“Mayo physicians and scientists were able to learn from the experience of other hospitals and adopt the best practices learned into our treatment paradigms,” Badley says. “That knowledge, together with the increased access to experimental agents, is likely the major reason for the outcomes we observed.”
The study is available in full for free.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.