Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Jan 2024
Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Cardiac Arrest: Does Age Matter?
The impact of age on hospital survival for patients treated with extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) for cardiac arrest (CA) is unknown. We sought to characterize the association between older age and hospital survival after ECPR, using a large international database. ⋯ This investigation represents the largest analysis of the relationship of older age on ECPR outcomes. We found that the odds of hospital survival for patients with CA treated with ECPR diminishes with increasing age, with significantly decreased odds of survival after age 65, despite controlling for illness severity and comorbidities. However, findings from this observational data have significant limitations and further studies are needed to evaluate these findings prospectively.
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Critical care medicine · Jan 2024
Delirium During Critical Illness and Subsequent Change of Treatment in Patients With Cancer: A Mediation Analysis.
To assess whether delirium during ICU stay is associated with subsequent change in treatment of cancer after discharge. ⋯ Patients who had delirium during ICU stay had a higher rate of modification of cancer treatment after discharge. The effect of delirium on change in cancer treatment was only partially mediated by the development of functional dependence after discharge. Change in cancer treatment was associated with increased 1-year mortality.
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Critical care medicine · Jan 2024
ReviewNational ICU Registries as Enablers of Clinical Research and Quality Improvement.
Clinical quality registries (CQRs) have been implemented worldwide by several medical specialties aiming to generate a better characterization of epidemiology, treatments, and outcomes of patients. National ICU registries were created almost 3 decades ago to improve the understanding of case-mix, resource use, and outcomes of critically ill patients. This narrative review describes the challenges, proposed solutions, and evidence generated by National ICU registries as facilitators for research and quality improvement. ⋯ ICU registries have provided increased knowledge of case-mix and outcomes of ICU patients based on real-world data and contributed to improve care delivery through quality improvement initiatives and trials. Recent increases in adoption of new technologies (i.e., cloud-based structures, artificial intelligence, machine learning) will ensure a broader and better use of data for epidemiology, healthcare policies, quality improvement, and clinical trials.