Factors Affecting Mortality in COVID-19 Patients Treated with Tocilizumab

The aim of our study was to evaluate the risk factors associated with mortali ty in COVID-19 patients.During March 2020 to March 2022, 136 patients who were treated with tocilizumab in the service and intensive care unit due to Covid-19 pneumonia confirmed by Reverse-Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) were retrospectively analyzed.While the mean age of the surviving group (n:70) was 54.4 years, for the dying group (n:66) it was 67.4 years.There was no significant difference in terms of gender in the surviving and dying patient groups (p:0.761).The time from hospital ization to tocilizumab treatment was significantly shorter among survivors (p=0.004), while patients who received tocilizumab in the intensive care unit exhibited a higher mortality rate.While the median Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) score was 0 in the surviving patients, it was 2 in the dying group.It was found that a 1 -unit increase in CCI increased the mortality rate 1.416 times.Age, CCI, neutrophil, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), urea, and C reactive protein (CRP) were found to be independent risk factors for mortality.Patients with high white blood cell, lactate dehydrogenase, troponin, d -dimer, and low lymphocyte, total protein, albumin, and glomerular filtration rates had higher mortality rate.CCI, white blood cell, NLR, urea, LDH, troponin, d-dimer, CRP, lymphocyte, GFR, albumin and total protein basal values can be used as risk factors for death from Covid -19 disease.In addition, early initiation of tocilizumab therapy may reduce mortality rates.