Different variants of coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a virus responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome, caused several epidemic surges in Hungary. The severity of these surges varied due to the different virulences of the variants. In a single-center, retrospective, observational study, we aimed to assess and compare morbidities and mortality rates across the epidemic waves I to IV with special regard to hospitalized, critically ill patients. A significant difference was found between the surges with regard to morbidity (p < 0.001) and ICU mortality (p = 0.002), while in-hospital mortality rates (p = 0.503) did not differ significantly. Patients under invasive ventilation had a higher incidence of bloodstream infection (aOR: 8.91 [4.43-17.95] p < 0.001), which significantly increased mortality (OR: 3.32 [2.01-5.48]; p < 0.001). Our results suggest that Waves III and IV, caused by the alpha (B.1.1.7) and delta (B.1.617.2) variants, respectively, were more severe in terms of morbidity. The incidence of bloodstream infection was high in critically ill patients. Our results suggest that clinicians should be aware of the risk of bloodstream infection in critically ill ICU patients, especially when invasive ventilation is used.
Keywords: COVID-19 critically ill patients; COVID-19 epidemiology; COVID-19 waves; ICU; SARS-CoV-2 variants; bloodstream infections.