• W Plöchl, L Pezawas, O Artemiou, M Grimm, W Klepetko, and M Hiesmayr.
• Department of Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, University of Vienna, School of Medicine, General Hospital, Austria.
• Intensive Care Med. 1996 Nov 1;22(11):1179-85.

ObjectiveTo determine the relation of malnutrition and underlying diagnosis to the length of stay in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and to mortality after lung transplantation (LTX).DesignRetrospective ICU chart review.SettingCardiothoracic ICU in a University hospital.PatientsFifty-one consecutive patients who suffered from end-stage lung disease from April 1992 to January 1994.InterventionsNone.Measurements And ResultsThe median time spent in the ICU was 5 days (range, 2-123 days). Patients with an underlying diagnosis of obstructive lung disease had significantly shorter ICU stays (median 4 days; range, 2-28 days) than those with restrictive lung disease (median 7 days; range, 2-123 days) (p = 0.005) or pulmonary hypertension (median 10 days' range, 2-38 days) (p = 0.041). Significant differences in ICU duration were observed between patients after double lung transplantation (median 10 days; range, 2-123 days) and those after single lung transplantation (median 4 days; range, 2-36 days) (p = 0.004). No statistically significant difference in ICU duration was found between patients with different nutritional statuses. In those patients who could not be discharged from the ICU before the 5th day, a body mass index (BMI) below the 25th percentile was a statistically significant risk factor for ICU mortality (p = 0.05).ConclusionsWe conclude that the type of transplant procedure and the underlying diagnosis are important predictive indicators of ICU duration. A poor nutritional status (BMI below the 25th percentile) is a risk factor for ICU mortality in cases of patients who stay for 5 days or longer in the ICU.

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