Clinical Research Directory

Pre-ICU Hospital Length of Stay and 30-day Mortality in the Very Old: a National Cohort of 315 042 ICU Admissions

How does waiting in hospital before intensive care affect older patients?Patients who become seriously ill are sometimes admitted to a regular hospital ward first, and only transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) when their condition worsens. The longer this wait, the higher the risk of dying within the following weeks. The number of very old patients (aged 80 and over) considered for ICU care is rising, and decisions about whether and when to admit them are difficult. It is not known whether the wait before ICU matters as much in this age group as in younger patients, or whether it carries different weight when judging how serious their illness is. Over 315,000 adults admitted to Swedish ICUs between 2005 and 2016 were examined, and statistical models were used to estimate how the risk of dying within 30 days depends on age and on the time spent in hospital before reaching the ICU.