Acute renal failure in patients with severe civilian trauma

We reviewed our experience with patients suffering from civilian trauma to identify risk factors for the development of acute renal failure (ARF) and ARF outcome. Of the 437 patients consecutively admitted to a surgical intensive care unit (SICU), 206 had a SICU stay of at least 1 day and ARF developed in 30 of these patients. All ARF patients had additional organ system failure (OSF). Pre-existing chronic disease (including chronic renal failure), malnutrition, injury severity score (ISS), number of organs injured, sepsis, and all OSFs before the onset of ARF were factors predisposing to ARF. Mortality was 40%. Chronic disease, malnutrition, ISS, failure of cardiovascular, pulmonary, hepatic, and neurological systems (either before and after ARF) were significantly associated with mortality. When OSFs were considered in their temporal relationships to ARF, only cardiovascular and pulmonary failure before, and gastrointestinal failure after, the onset of ARF were related to mortality. An increasing number of OSFs increased mortality, both before and after the development of ARF. However, the number of OSFs before was significantly greater than after ARF. Sepsis was not associated with increased mortality. Thus, the outcome of ARF patients with critical trauma seems to be dependent on factors predisposing to ARF. Our results suggest that more attention must be paid to prevention of these precipitating conditions.