Assessment of risk factors for in-hospital mortality after intensive care unit discharge

Abstract

Context: Post-intensive care unit (ICU) mortality predictors are unknown.

Objective: To assess post-ICU in-hospital mortality predictors.

Materials and methods: Analysis of 296 patients discharged alive from a medical-surgical ICU during an 18-month period.

Results: Post-ICU in-hospital mortality was 22.6%. Nonsurvivors had significantly higher Charlson comorbidity score and more often had a tracheostomy. C-reactive protein (CRP) “alert measurement”, ≥ 6 mg/dL, independently discriminated survivors from nonsurvivors.

Discussion: A CRP “alert measurement” or the need for tracheostomy may be used to identify patients with high risk of dying after ICU discharge.

Conclusions: Charlson comorbidity score, CRP and tracheostomy predicted post-ICU in-hospital mortality.

Keywords::

• ICU patient discharge
• mortality
• C-reactive protein
• tracheostomy
• Charlson comorbidity score

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all the nursing staff of the polyvalent ICU in the S. Francisco Xavier Hospital.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest related to this article.