• Luciano Santana Cabrera, Manuel Sánchez-Palacios, Elena Hernández Medina, Rosa Lorenzo Torrent, Sergio Martínez Cuéllar, and Angel Villanueva Ortiz.
• Servicio de Medicina Intensiva, Hospital Universitario Insular de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. lsancabx@gobiernodecanarias.org
• Med Intensiva. 2009 May 1; 33 (4): 161-5.

ObjectiveTo determine if gender and age are associated with differences in mortality in patients requiring critical care.DesignRetrospective analysis of prospectively collected data over 6 consecutive years.SettingPolyvalent intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary hospital in the Canary Islands.PatientsAdult patients who were hospitalized in the ICU, divided on the basis of gender and age (or=65 years).Primary Variables Of InterestDemographic and clinical diagnosis data on ICU admission, APACHE II, days of mechanical ventilation, days of renal replacement therapy (RRT) and the mortality were collected.ResultsDuring the study period, 3786 patients were admitted to the ICU, 66.7% male and 2469 (65.2%)<65 years. Mortality in the ICU of the coronary group was greater in women (11.1% vs 6.7%; p=0.02), even though there were no significant differences between both genders in the APACHE II (p=0.56). No statistically significant differences were found according to gender in age (or=65 years), in the APACHE II, or in the need for mechanical ventilation or renal replacement therapy as well as in the ICU mortality. We also found no differences in the mortality between the diagnostic groups and gender even when the APACHE II was significantly greater on admission, as occurred for the women<65 years of the coronary and traumas group and for women with surgery>or=65 years.ConclusionsNo significant differences were demonstrated in the outcome in relationship with gender except for in the coronary group in which mortality was greater in women. Age above or below 65 years had no influence on mortality in our patients.

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