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[Clinical epidemiologic study of patients admitted to the intensive care unit, according to age]
A Dougnac1, M Andresen, P Giacaman
1Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos, Hospital Clínico, Pontificia Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Background:
Lately, we have observed an increase in the admission to intensive care units of patients over 65 years old, probably due to the increase in life expectancy that is occurring in Chile.
Aim:
To compare the frequency of admissions to intensive care units in patients over 65 years old, their diagnoses, their severity and hospital course, with those of younger patients.
Patients And Methods:
The charts of all patients admitted to an intensive care unit of a University Hospital, during one year, were reviewed. The diagnosis that caused the admission was considered the main disease. Severity at the moment of admission was assessed using the Apache score.
Results:
A total of 777 patients were admitted during the study period. Twenty had to be excluded due to lack of reliable data. Four hundred thirty two (57%) were over 65 years old. Cardiovascular diseases were the main cause of admission in young and old patients. Mortality was 14.8% of patients over 65 years old and 18.7% in younger patients. Main causes of death were cardiac arrest, cardiogenic shock, sepsis and cerebrovascular disease. No differences in causes of death were observed between young and old patients.
Conclusions:
Patients older than 65 years old admitted to intensive care units are very similar to their younger counterparts in their prognosis and causes of admission.