Turkish Journal of Geriatrics 2009 , Vol 12, Issue 4
RETROSPECTIVE EVALUATION OF GERIATRIC PATIENTS IN THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT
İsmail AYDIN ERDEN, Seda Banu AKINCI, Almila Gülsün PAMUK, İlker Öngüç AYCAN, Bilge ÇELEBİOĞLU, Ülkü AYPAR
Hacettepe Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Anesteziyoloji ve Reaminasyon Anabilim Dalı, ANKARA Introduction: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of age on length of hospital stay, intensive care unit (ICU) stay, and mortality by comparing patients aged 65 years and older with patients younger than 65 years old.

Materials and Method: Patients over 18 years of age who presented to anesthesia ICU were included in the study. The patients were divided into two groups according to their age (<65 years versus ≥65 years old). Demographic and clinical data were recorded retrospectively. Major outcome variables were length of ICU stay, hospital stay and mortality rates.

Results: Four hundred and ninety three patient records were evaluated. At admission, elderly patients had more comorbidities, physiological problems and organ failures, and their hospital and ICU mortality rates were higher than that of younger patients. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, TISS-28 score was the only independent variable affecting ICU mortality rates. Regarding hospital mortality rates, however, as well as TISS-28 score, acute congestive heart failure was found to be a statistically significant independent variable.

Conclusion: Although mortality rates in the elderly are high, age is not an independent variable affecting the deaths, and when predicting prognosis, prehospital morbidity, physiological parameters and patients' need for care (TISS-28) must be considered. Keywords : Elderly patient, ICU, Mortality