Methods
This retrospective cohort study was conducted on adult patients (age ≥18 years) who survived hospitalization for symptomatic COVID-19 confirmed by positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) result for SARS-CoV-2 from March to August 2020 at a 625-bed community teaching hospital in Los Angeles. The study was approved by the hospital’s Institutional Review Board; informed consent was waived.
Medical charts were reviewed to obtain demographic, laboratory, and clinical information, and details of antiviral and antibacterial therapy. All data were recorded on a structured data collection form and managed using REDCap electronic data capture tools hosted at the University of Southern California.4 Sepsis-3 criteria were used to define sepsis and septic shock.5 Outcome measures included development of acute kidney injury (AKI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and hospital length of stay (LOS).