Oxygen levels are predictive ― the higher your oxygen levels, the better your chances of recovery
An analysis of more than 2,000 emergency admissions to one hospital in the Hampshire region (see above) shows that patients with suspected covid whose oxygen levels are just slightly below normal at 95% (normal is 96%-100%) have only a 6% chance of not surviving the disease. The mortality figure more than doubles to over 13% for patients whose oxygen levels are slightly lower at 93-94% on admission to hospital. But patients whose oxygen levels dip below 93% have almost a five times higher chance, (more than 28% chance) of not surviving their illness.
This is borne out by another study of emergency admissions to the Royal Free Hospital, London (see below). It shows that patients who present with oxygen levels of 93% or higher (blue line, below) have a 9.9% chance of mortality after one month. This translates into a chance of survival of more than 90%. Those survival chances fall to around 70% for patients who come in with oxygen levels below 93% (red line, below), who have a 29.7% chance of mortality after one month.
