{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T23:37:35Z","timestamp":1792193855717,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,11]],"date-time":"2025-02-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1739232000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: COVID-19 can cause acute pulmonary hypertension (PH), worsening outcomes in critically ill elderly patients. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), assessing right ventricular hemodynamics, predicts short-term outcomes. This study examines the long-term impact of acute PH on mortality in elderly COVID-19 patients. Methods: This retrospective long-term study analyzed data from patients over 70 years old with severe COVID-19 pneumonia admitted to a mixed 25-bed, level 3 intensive care unit (ICU). POCUS focused on systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP) at admission. Mortality was evaluated 1000 days post-admission. Results: The study included 130 patients, comprising 30 long-term survivors and 100 non-survivors, with a cumulative long-term mortality rate of 77%. Non-survivors had significantly higher sPAP values (39.1 \u00b1 12.8 vs. 30.4 \u00b1 9.2, p = 0.04), which were associated with long-term mortality in survival analysis. Conclusion: Acute pulmonary hypertension (PH), reflected by elevated systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP), is strongly associated with long-term mortality in elderly critically ill COVID-19 patients. Early assessment of sPAP via POCUS may help identify high-risk patients and guide management strategies to improve outcomes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v17020244","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,11]],"date-time":"2025-02-11T09:36:05Z","timestamp":1739266565000},"page":"244","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Systolic Pulmonary Artery Pressure as Long-Term Mortality Predictor in Elderly Critically Ill with Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9433-2035","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marko","family":"Kurnik","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Intensive Medicine, General Hospital Celje, 3000 Celje, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Helena","family":"Bo\u017ei\u010d","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Intensive Medicine, General Hospital Celje, 3000 Celje, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Matej","family":"Podbregar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Intensive Medicine, General Hospital Celje, 3000 Celje, Slovenia"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"497","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)30183-5","article-title":"Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China","volume":"395","author":"Huang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1801913","DOI":"10.1183\/13993003.01913-2018","article-title":"Haemodynamic definitions and updated clinical classification of pulmonary hypertension","volume":"53","author":"Simonneau","year":"2019","journal-title":"Eur. 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