Treatment intensity, age and outcome in medical ICU patients: results of a French administrative database

Background: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are aging, and older age has been associated with higher mortality in ICU. As previous studies have reported that older age was also associated with less intensive treatment, we investigated the relationship between age, treatment intensity and mortality in medical ICU patients. Methods: Data were extracted from the administrative database of 18 medical ICUs. Patients with a unique medical ICU stay and a Simplified Acute Physiology Score II (without age-related points) >15 were included. Treatment intensity was described with a novel indicator, which is a four-group classification based upon the most frequent ICU procedures. The relationship between age, treatment intensity and hospital mortality was analyzed with the estimation of standardized mortality ratio in the four groups of treatment intensity. Results: A total of 23,578 patients, including 3203 patients aged ≥80 years, were analyzed. Hospital mortality increased from 13 % for the younger patients (age 
Source: Epidemiologic Perspectives and Innovations - Category: Epidemiology Authors: Source Type: research