Postpandemic Influenza Mortality of Venovenous Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation-Treated Patients in Reunion Island: A Retrospective Single Center Study.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the present study was to assess the post-pandemic mortality of influenza in patients receiving venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO) in Reunion Island, France, by comparing the incidence with other patients undergoing VV-ECMO.

DESIGN

Retrospective, descriptive, and single-center cohort study. The primary outcome was the standardized mortality ratio for influenza based on the quartiles of the Respiratory Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Survival Prediction score (RESP Score) in the reference population of patients undergoing VV-ECMO.

SETTING

Intensive care unit (ICU), Felix Guyon Hospital, University Teaching Hospital of La Réunion, La Réunion, France.

PARTICIPANTS

Consecutive patients on ECMO with positive polymerase chain reaction for influenza.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

One hundred twenty-seven consecutive patients were hospitalized in the ICU with a positive influenza polymerase chain reaction from January 2013 to December 2017. Twenty-four influenza patients underwent ECMO including 18 patients with VV-ECMO. During this period, 72 patients requiring VV-ECMO were hospitalized in the ICU. The overall mortality rate of influenza patients on VV-ECMO was 61% versus 46% for non-influenza patients. The standardized mortality ratio per quartile of RESP Score was 1.28 (95% confidence interval 0.61-2.35).

CONCLUSIONS

In Reunion, the mortality of patients undergoing VV-ECMO for severe influenza is not lower than the expected mortality of all patients undergoing VV-ECMO.