Utilization and outcomes of life-supporting interventions in older ICU patients in Japan: a nationwide registry study

The purpose of this study is to describe the implementation of life-supporting interventions and the short-term outcomes of older patients in ICUs in Japan.

All adult patients admitted to ICUs participating in the Japanese Intensive Care Patient Database (JIPAD) from April 1, 2015, to March 31, 2022, were eligible for inclusion. Information, including life-supporting interventions, was retrieved from the database. Patients were divided into six age groups. The primary outcome of interest was the proportion of receiving a composite of the following interventions: mechanical ventilation, continuous renal replacement therapy, and veno-venous or veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Data of a total of 233,093 patients were analyzed. The median age was 71 years, with 18.2% of the patients in their 80s, 5303 patients in their 90s (2.3%), and 67 patients in their 100s. Many life-supporting interventions were provided to older patients. The proportion of patients older than 90 years who received the composite interventions decreased from 40.4% in 18-59 to 27.6% in 90-99. Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) use increased with age, resulting in a consistent proportion of patients receiving either NIV or mechanical ventilation until their 90s. ICU mortality for patients aged 80 years or older was 5.6%, and hospital mortality for this age group was 12.9%. Approximately half of the patients in their 80s and 60% of those older than 90 years did not return home.

Although life-supporting interventions tended to decrease with age, a considerable number of patients of advanced age still received these interventions.