Title: The POSITIONED Study: Prone Positioning in Nonventilated Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients—A Retrospective Analysis<br/>Author: Quincy Tran<br/><a href='http://umem.org/profiles/faculty/1281/'>[Click to email author]</a><hr/><p>
A single center (Nebraska, USA), retrospective analysis investigated the prevalence of intubation during hospital stay for 105 patients who had COVID-19 between March 24 to May 5, 2020 (1). 40 patients underwent awake proning vs. 60 patients did not undergo awake proning.</p>
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After adjusting for either SOFA or APACHE scores, patients with awake proning were associated with lower Hazard Ratios of intubation for SOFA (HR 0.30, 95% CI 0.09-0.96, p=0.043) and APACHE (HR 0.30, 95%CI 0.1-0.91, p=0.034).</p>
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<strong>Discussion</strong></p>
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While this US study seemed promising, another Brazilian study being published earlier in July 2020 showed no difference in the prevalence of intubation between COVID-19 patients with proning or without proning (2).</p>
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These 2 studies highlighted the nature of this disease: high practice variability, uncertainty of therapeutic modalities. However, the complications from awake proning had been very low.</p>
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<strong>Conclusion</strong>:</p>
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Awake proning for hypoxic COVID-19 patients is a promising intervention but we will need more studies. In the meanwhile, we can try this therapeutic modality as the risk is low.</p>
<fieldset><legend>References</legend>
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1. Jagan N, Morrow LE, Walters RW, Klein LP, Wallen TJ, Chung J, Plambeck RW. The POSITIONED Study: Prone Positioning in Nonventilated Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients-A Retrospective Analysis. Crit Care Explor. 2020 Oct 1;2(10):e0229. doi: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000000229. PMID: 33063033; PMCID: PMC7531752.</div>
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2. Padrão EMH, Valente FS, Besen BAMP, Rahhal H, Mesquita PS, de Alencar JCG, da Costa MGP, Wanderley APB, Emerenciano DL, Bortoleto FM, Fortes JCL, Marques B, de Souza SFB, Marchini JFM, Neto RAB, de Souza HP; COVIDTEAM. Awake Prone Positioning in COVID-19 Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure: Exploratory Findings in a Single-center Retrospective Cohort Study. Acad Emerg Med. 2020 Dec;27(12):1249-1259. doi: 10.1111/acem.14160. Epub 2020 Nov 21. PMID: 33107664.</div>
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