[Age structure, lethality and expenditure of an internist intensive care ward. Prospective studies (author's transl)]

The total mortality for 1977 of 706 prospectively examined patients with an average age of 68 in an intensive care ward was 15%. 42% of the patients were 70 years old with a lethality of 19%, which was not essentially higher than the 51 to 70 year-old patients with 16%. In 139 patients with a recent myocardial infarction the lethality was 20%. Infarct patients over 70 years old died in 27%, between 51 and 70 years old in 17% and under 51 years of age in 7% of cases. Resuscitation measures were essential in 93 cases and led to a lasting success in 25%.