AIDS in ICUs: outcome

The admission of patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) to intensive care units in the United Kingdom was surveyed in January 1986. Ninety-three intensive care units completed the questionnaire. Thirty-two patients had been admitted to 12 units up to that time. Twenty-five (78%) of these patients had received artificial ventilation of the lungs. The commonest cause of respiratory failure on admission was Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia; this occurred in 27 patients, seven of whom also had pulmonary cytomegalovirus infection. Four patients had Kaposi's sarcoma and three of these patients also had Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. The overall mortality was 72%; twenty (80%) of the patients who required artificial ventilation, died. Ten patients survived to leave the intensive care unit, but one patient died of respiratory failure prior to discharge home.