Pharmacotherapy Choice Is Associated with 2-Year Mortality for Patients with Heart Failure and Reduced Ejection Fraction

Introduction

Factors associated with mortality for patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) are known; however, the association between initial pharmacotherapy (IPT) and mortality is unclear in real-world settings.

Methods

Using a retrospective design and claims database, 14,359 Medicare patients with HFrEF from August 2010 to July 2015 were identified. Index date was first HF claim. IPT was mono- or combo-angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI), angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB), beta-blocker (BB), hydralazine–nitrate (HN), and aldosterone antagonist (AA) within 1 year post-index. A multivariable time-dependent Cox model estimated associations between IPT and 2-year all-cause mortality.

Results

Patients’ median age was 76 (70–82) years; 45.1% were female. Within 1 month post-index, 61.4% had IPT, 6.1% started after the first month, and 32.4% had no IPT in the first year. Of IPTs, 47.5% were mono-vasodilators (ACEI, ARB or HN), 23.3% mono-vasodilator + BB, 16.9% mono-BB, and 3.5% triple therapy [(ACEI or ARB) + BB + (HN or AA)]. Two-year mortality rate was 27.9%. Compared to mono-vasodilator therapy, patients initiating triple therapy had 29.3% lower risk of 2-year mortality; those on mono-BB or no IPT had higher mortality risk.

Conclusion

IPT was associated with decreased 2-year mortality risk. Timely consideration of triple IPT therapies may be warranted once HFrEF diagnosis is confirmed.

Funding

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. located in East Hanover, NJ, USA.

     

The relationship between ICU hypotension and in-hospital mortality and morbidity in septic patients

Purpose

Current guidelines recommend maintaining a mean arterial pressure (MAP)?≥?65 mmHg in septic patients. However, the relationship between hypotension and major complications in septic patients remains unclear. We, therefore, evaluated associations of MAPs below various thresholds and in-hospital mortality, acute kidney injury (AKI), and myocardial injury.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective analysis using electronic health records from 110 US hospitals. We evaluated septic adults with intensive care unit (ICU) stays?≥?24 h from 2010 to 2016. Patients were excluded with inadequate blood pressure recordings, poorly documented potential confounding factors, or renal or myocardial histories documented within 6 months of ICU admission. Hypotension exposure was defined by time-weighted average mean arterial pressure (TWA-MAP) and cumulative time below 55, 65, 75, and 85 mmHg thresholds. Multivariable logistic regressions determined the associations between hypotension exposure and in-hospital mortality, AKI, and myocardial injury.

Results

In total, 8,782 patients met study criteria. For every one unit increase in TWA-MAP?<?65 mmHg, the odds of in-hospital mortality increased 11.4% (95% CI 7.8%, 15.1%, p?<?0.001); the odds of AKI increased 7.0% (4.7, 9.5%, p?<?0.001); and the odds of myocardial injury increased 4.5% (0.4, 8.7%, p?=?0.03). For mortality and AKI, odds progressively increased as thresholds decreased from 85 to 55 mmHg.

Conclusions

Risks for mortality, AKI, and myocardial injury were apparent at 85 mmHg, and for mortality and AKI risk progressively worsened at lower thresholds. Maintaining MAP well above 65 mmHg may be prudent in septic ICU patients.

     

The effects of active mobilisation and rehabilitation in ICU on mortality and function: a systematic review

Purpose

Early active mobilisation and rehabilitation in the intensive care unit (ICU) is being used to prevent the long-term functional consequences of critical illness. This review aimed to determine the effect of active mobilisation and rehabilitation in the ICU on mortality, function, mobility, muscle strength, quality of life, days alive and out of hospital to 180 days, ICU and hospital lengths of stay, duration of mechanical ventilation and discharge destination, linking outcomes with the World Health Organization International Classification of Function Framework.

Methods

A PRISMA checklist-guided systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised and controlled clinical trials.

Results

Fourteen studies of varying quality including a total of 1753 patients were reviewed. Active mobilisation and rehabilitation had no impact on short- or long-term mortality (p > 0.05). Meta-analysis showed that active mobilisation and rehabilitation led to greater muscle strength (body function) at ICU discharge as measured using the Medical Research Council Sum Score (mean difference 8.62 points, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.39–15.86), greater probability of walking without assistance (activity limitation) at hospital discharge (odds ratio 2.13, 95% CI 1.19–3.83), and more days alive and out of hospital to day 180 (participation restriction) (mean difference 9.69, 95% CI 1.7–17.66). There were no consistent effects on function, quality of life, ICU or hospital length of stay, duration of mechanical ventilation or discharge destination.

Conclusion

Active mobilisation and rehabilitation in the ICU has no impact on short- and long-term mortality, but may improve mobility status, muscle strength and days alive and out of hospital to 180 days.

Registration of protocol number

CRD42015029836.

     

Post-contrast acute kidney injury in intensive care unit patients: a propensity score-adjusted study

Purpose

To examine the association of intravenous iodinated contrast material administration with the subsequent development of post-contrast AKI (PC-AKI), emergent dialysis, and short-term mortality using a propensity score-adjusted analysis of a cohort of intensive care unit (ICU) patients who underwent CT examination.

Methods

All ICU patients at our institution who received a contrast-enhanced (contrast group) or unenhanced (noncontrast group) CT scan from January 2006 to December 2014 were identified. Patients were subdivided into pre-CT eGFR > 45 and eGFR ≤ 45 subsets and separately underwent propensity score analysis. Rates of KDIGO-defined AKI, dialysis, and mortality were compared between contrast and noncontrast groups. Separate analyses of eGFR ≥ 60, 30–59, and <30 subsets were also performed.

Results

A total of 6877 ICU patients (4351 contrast, 2526 noncontrast) were included in the study. Following propensity score adjustment, the rates of AKI (31 vs. 34%, OR .88 (95% CI .75–1.05), p = .15), dialysis (2.0 vs. 1.7%, OR 1.20 (.66–2.17), p = .55), and mortality (12 vs. 14%, OR .87 (.69–1.10), p = .23) were not significantly higher in the contrast versus noncontrast group in the matched eGFR > 45 subset. Significantly higher rates of dialysis (6.7 vs. 2.5%, OR 2.72 (1.14–6.46), p = .0240) were observed in the contrast versus noncontrast group in the matched eGFR ≤ 45 subset.

Conclusions

Intravenous contrast material administration was not associated with an increased risk of AKI, emergent dialysis, and short-term mortality in ICU patients with pre-CT eGFR > 45. An increased risk of dialysis was observed in patients with pre-CT eGFR ≤ 45.

     

Adverse drug reactions and deliberate self-poisoning as cause of admission to the intensive care unit: a 1-year prospective observational cohort study

Objective

The aim of the present study was (1) to determine the prevalence of intensive care unit (ICU) admissions due to an adverse drug reaction (ADR), and (2) to compare affected patients with patients admitted to the ICU for the treatment of deliberate self-poisoning using medical drugs.

Design

Prospective observational cohort study.

Setting

Fourteen bed medical ICU including an integrated intermediate care (IMC) section at a tertiary referral center.

Patients

A total of 1,554 patients admitted on 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2003.

Results

Ninety-nine patients were admitted to the ICU with a diagnosis of ADR (6.4% of all admissions), 269 admissions (17.3%) were caused by deliberate self-poisoning. Patients admitted for treatment of ADR had a significantly higher age, a longer treatment duration in the ICU, a higher SAPS II score, and a higher 6-month mortality than those with deliberate self-poisoning. Most patients (71.7%) suffering from ADR required advanced supportive care in the ICU while the majority of patients (90.7%) with deliberate self-poisoning could be sufficiently treated in the IMC area. All diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in the ICU except mechanical ventilation were significantly more often performed in patients with ADR.

Conclusions

This study provides further evidence that ADR is a frequent cause of admission to medical ICUs resulting in a considerable use of ICU capacities. In the present setting patients with ADR required longer and more intense medical treatment in the ICU than those with deliberate self-poisoning.

     

Premorbid functional status as a predictor of 1-year mortality and functional status in intensive care patients aged 80 years or older

Purpose

We assessed the association between the premorbid functional status (PFS) and 1-year mortality and functional status of very old intensive care patients.

Methods

Using a nationwide quality registry, we retrieved data on patients treated in Finnish intensive care units (ICUs) during the period May 2012?April 2013. Of 16,389 patients, 1827 (11.1%) were very old (aged 80 years or older). We defined a person with good functional status as someone independent in activities of daily living (ADL) and able to climb stairs without assistance; a person with poor functional status was defined as needing assistance for ADL or being unable to climb stairs. We adjusted for severity of illness and calculated the impact of PFS.

Results

Overall, hospital mortality was 21.3% and 1-year mortality was 38.2%. For emergency patients (73.5% of all), hospital mortality was 28% and 1-year mortality was 48%. The functional status at 1 year was comparable to the PFS in 78% of the survivors. PFS was poor for 43.3% of the patients. A poor PFS predicted an increased risk of in-hospital death, adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.50 (95% confidence interval, 1.07–2.10), and of 1-year mortality, OR 2.18 (1.67–2.85). PFS data significantly improved the prediction of 1-year mortality.

Conclusions

Of very old ICU patients, 62% were alive 1 year after ICU admission and 78% of the survivors had a functional status comparable to the premorbid situation. A poor PFS doubled the odds of death within a year. Knowledge of PFS improved the prediction of 1-year mortality.

     

Increased risk of death and readmission after hospital discharge of critically ill patients in a developing country: a retrospective multicenter cohort study

Purpose

To describe long-term mortality and hospital readmissions of patients admitted to Brazilian intensive care units (ICU).

Methods

Retrospective cohort study of adult patients admitted to Brazilian hospitals affiliated to the Public Healthcare System from 10 state capitals. ICU patients were paired to non-ICU patients by frequency matching (ratio 1:2), according to postal code and admission semester. Hospitalization records were linked through deterministic linkage to national mortality data. Primary outcome was mortality up to 1 year. Other outcomes were mortality and readmissions at 30 and 90 days and 3 years. Multiple Cox regressions were used adjusting for age, sex, cancer diagnosis, type of hospital, and surgical status.

Results

We included 324,594 patients (108,302 ICU and 216,292 non-ICU). ICU patients had increased hospital length of stay [9 (5–17) vs. 3 (1–6) days, p?<?0.001] and mortality (18.5 vs. 3.6%, p?<?0.001) versus non-ICU patients. One year after discharge, ICU patients were more frequently readmitted to hospital (25.4 vs. 17.4%, p?<?0.001) and to ICU (31.4 vs. 7.3%, p?<?0.001) than controls. Mortality up to 1 year was also higher for ICU patients (14.3 vs. 3.9%, p?<?0.001). A significant interaction between surgical status and mortality was found, with adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) up to 1 year of 2.7 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.5–2.9] for surgical patients, and 3.4 (95%CI 3.3–3.5) for medical patients. The risk for death and readmission diminished over time up to 3 years.

Conclusions

In a public healthcare system of a developing country, ICU patients have excessive long-term mortality and frequent readmissions. The ICU burden tended to reduce over time after hospital discharge.

     

Health-related quality-of-life among survivors of acute kidney injury in the intensive care unit: a systematic review

Purpose

To summarize evidence on long-term health-related quality-of-life (HRQL) among survivors of acute kidney injury (AKI) in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods

We performed a comprehensive search of the literature for studies reporting original data describing HRQL utilizing validated instruments. Search, study selection and data abstraction were performed in duplicate. Study quality was appraised. Due to study heterogeneity, data are primarily summarized qualitatively.

Results

Our search yielded 2193 articles of which 18 were selected for detailed analysis. The quality of these 18 studies was generally good. Numerous HRQL instruments were utilized, and assessment occurred at variable follow-up duration (range 2 months to 14.5 years). HRQL among AKI survivors was reduced when compared to age/sex-matched populations. HRQL among survivors with and without AKI was generally described as similar beyond 6 months. Physical component domains were consistently more impaired than mental component domains. Survivors had considerable limitations in activities of daily living, implying newly acquired disability, with few returning to work. Despite diminished HRQL, patients’ HRQL was generally perceived as satisfactory, and the majority would receive similar treatment again, including renal replacement therapy in the ICU, if necessary.

Conclusions

Among survivors of critical illness complicated by AKI, HRQL was impaired when referenced to population norms, but it was not significantly different from that of survivors without AKI. Physical limitations and disabilities were more commonly exhibited by AKI patients. Importantly, the impaired HRQL was generally perceived as acceptable to patients, most of whom expressed willingness to undergo similar treatment in the future.

     

Urinary creatinine excretion is related to short-term and long-term mortality in critically ill patients

Purpose

Patients with reduced muscle mass have a worse outcome, but muscle mass is difficult to quantify in the ICU. Urinary creatinine excretion (UCE) reflects muscle mass, but has not been studied in critically ill patients. We evaluated the relation of baseline UCE with short-term and long-term mortality in patients admitted to our ICU.

Methods

Patients who stayed ≥?24 h in the ICU with UCE measured within 3 days of admission were included. We excluded patients who developed acute kidney injury stage 3 during the first week of ICU stay. As muscle mass is considerably higher in men than women, we used sex-stratified UCE quintiles. We assessed the relation of UCE with both in-hospital mortality and long-term mortality.

Results

From 37,283 patients, 6151 patients with 11,198 UCE measurements were included. Mean UCE was 54% higher in males compared to females. In-hospital mortality was 17%, while at 5-year follow-up, 1299 (25%) patients had died. After adjustment for age, sex, estimated glomerular filtration rate, body mass index, reason for admission and disease severity, patients in the lowest UCE quintile had an increased in-hospital mortality compared to the patients in the highest UCE quintile (OR 2.56, 95% CI 1.96–3.34). For long-term mortality, the highest risk was also observed for patients in the lowest UCE quintile (HR 2.32, 95% CI 1.89–2.85), independent of confounders.

Conclusions

In ICU patients without severe renal dysfunction, low urinary creatinine excretion is associated with short-term and long-term mortality, independent of age, sex, renal function and disease characteristics, underscoring the role of muscle mass as risk factor for mortality and UCE as relevant biomarker.

     

Incidence,treatment, and outcome of severe sepsis in ICU-treated adults in Finland: the Finnsepsis study

Objective

To determine the incidence and outcome of severe sepsis in the adult Finnish population and to evaluate how treatment guidelines in severe sepsis are applied in clinical practice.

Study design

A prospective study in 24 closed multidisciplinary ICUs in 21 hospitals (4 university and 17 tertiary hospitals) in Finland.

Patients

All 4,500 consecutive ICU admission episodes were screened for severe sepsis during a 4-month period (1 November 2004 – 28 February 2005). The referral population was 3,743,225.

Results

The severe sepsis criteria were fulfilled in 470 patients, who had472 septic episodes. The incidence of severe sepsis in the ICUs in Finland was 0.38/1000 in the adult population (95% confidence interval 0.34–0.41). The mean ICU length of stay was 8.2?±?8.1?days. ICU, hospital, and 1-year mortality rates were 15.5%, 28.3%, and 40.9%, respectively. Respiratory failure requiring ventilation support was the most common organ failure (86.2%); septic shock was present in 77% and acute renal failure in 20.6% of cases. Activated protein C was given to only 15 of the 55 patients with indication (27%) and low-dose corticosteroids to 150 of 366 (41%) patients with septic shock.

Conclusions

This prospective study found the incidence of ICU-treated severe sepsis in Finland to be 0.38 per 1,000 of the population. The ICU and hospital mortalities were also lower than earlier reported in United States or Australia. Evidence-based sepsis therapies were not used as often as recommended.

     

Out-of-hours discharge from intensive care,in-hospital mortality and intensive care readmission rates: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Purpose

Discharge from an intensive care unit (ICU) out of hours is common. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the association between time of discharge and mortality/ICU readmission.

Methods

We searched Medline, Embase, Web of Knowledge, CINAHL, the Cochrane Library and OpenGrey to June 2017. We included studies reporting in-hospital mortality and/or ICU readmission rates by ICU discharge “out-of-hours” and “in-hours”. Inclusion was limited to patients aged?≥?16 years discharged alive from a non-specialist ICU to a lower level of hospital care. Studies restricted to specific diseases were excluded. We assessed study quality using the Newcastle Ottowa Scale. We extracted published data, summarising using a random-effects meta-analysis.

Results

Our searches identified 1961 studies. We included unadjusted data from 1,191,178 patients from 18 cohort studies (presenting data from 1994 to 2014). “Out of hours” had multiple definitions, beginning between 16:00 and 22:00 and ending between 05:59 and 09:00. Patients discharged out of hours had higher in-hospital mortality [relative risk (95% CI) 1.39 (1.24, 1.57) p?<?0.0001] and readmission rates [1·30 (1.19, 1.42), p?<?0.001] than patients discharged in hours. Heterogeneity was high (I² 90.1% for mortality and 90.2% for readmission), resulting from differences in effect size rather than the presence of an effect.

Conclusions

Out-of-hours discharge from an ICU is strongly associated with both in-hospital death and ICU readmission. These effects persisted across all definitions of “out of hours” and across healthcare systems in different geographical locations. Whether these increases in mortality and readmission result from patient differences, differences in care, or a combination remains unclear.

     

Prevention of acute kidney injury and protection of renal function in the intensive care unit: update 2017

Background

Acute kidney injury (AKI) in the intensive care unit is associated with significant mortality and morbidity.

Objectives

To determine and update previous recommendations for the prevention of AKI, specifically the role of fluids, diuretics, inotropes, vasopressors/vasodilators, hormonal and nutritional interventions, sedatives, statins, remote ischaemic preconditioning and care bundles.

Method

A systematic search of the literature was performed for studies published between 1966 and March 2017 using these potential protective strategies in adult patients at risk of AKI. The following clinical conditions were considered: major surgery, critical illness, sepsis, shock, exposure to potentially nephrotoxic drugs and radiocontrast. Clinical endpoints included incidence or grade of AKI, the need for renal replacement therapy and mortality. Studies were graded according to the international GRADE system.

Results

We formulated 12 recommendations, 13 suggestions and seven best practice statements. The few strong recommendations with high-level evidence are mostly against the intervention in question (starches, low-dose dopamine, statins in cardiac surgery). Strong recommendations with lower-level evidence include controlled fluid resuscitation with crystalloids, avoiding fluid overload, titration of norepinephrine to a target MAP of 65–70 mmHg (unless chronic hypertension) and not using diuretics or levosimendan for kidney protection solely.

Conclusion

The results of recent randomised controlled trials have allowed the formulation of new recommendations and/or increase the strength of previous recommendations. On the other hand, in many domains the available evidence remains insufficient, resulting from the limited quality of the clinical trials and the poor reporting of kidney outcomes.

     

Prevention of cardiac surgery-associated AKI by implementing the KDIGO guidelines in high risk patients identified by biomarkers: the PrevAKI randomized controlled trial

Purpose

Care bundles are recommended in patients at high risk for acute kidney injury (AKI), although they have not been proven to improve outcomes. We sought to establish the efficacy of an implementation of the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guidelines to prevent cardiac surgery-associated AKI in high risk patients defined by renal biomarkers.

Methods

In this single-center trial, we examined the effect of a “KDIGO bundle” consisting of optimization of volume status and hemodynamics, avoidance of nephrotoxic drugs, and preventing hyperglycemia in high risk patients defined as urinary [TIMP-2]·[IGFBP7] > 0.3 undergoing cardiac surgery. The primary endpoint was the rate of AKI defined by KDIGO criteria within the first 72 h after surgery. Secondary endpoints included AKI severity, need for dialysis, length of stay, and major adverse kidney events (MAKE) at days 30, 60, and 90.

Results

AKI was significantly reduced with the intervention compared to controls [55.1 vs. 71.7%; ARR 16.6% (95 CI 5.5–27.9%); p = 0.004]. The implementation of the bundle resulted in significantly improved hemodynamic parameters at different time points (p < 0.05), less hyperglycemia (p < 0.001) and use of ACEi/ARBs (p < 0.001) compared to controls. Rates of moderate to severe AKI were also significantly reduced by the intervention compared to controls. There were no significant effects on other secondary outcomes.

Conclusion

An implementation of the KDIGO guidelines compared with standard care reduced the frequency and severity of AKI after cardiac surgery in high risk patients. Adequately powered multicenter trials are warranted to examine mortality and long-term renal outcomes.

     

AKIpredictor,an online prognostic calculator for acute kidney injury in adult critically ill patients: development,validation and comparison to serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin

Purpose

Early diagnosis of acute kidney injury (AKI) remains a major challenge. We developed and validated AKI prediction models in adult ICU patients and made these models available via an online prognostic calculator. We compared predictive performance against serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) levels at ICU admission.

Methods

Analysis of the large multicenter EPaNIC database. Model development (n = 2123) and validation (n = 2367) were based on clinical information available (1) before and (2) upon ICU admission, (3) after 1 day in ICU and (4) including additional monitoring data from the first 24 h. The primary outcome was a comparison of the predictive performance between models and NGAL for the development of any AKI (AKI-123) and AKI stages 2 or 3 (AKI-23) during the first week of ICU stay.

Results

Validation cohort prevalence was 29% for AKI-123 and 15% for AKI-23. The AKI-123 model before ICU admission included age, baseline serum creatinine, diabetes and type of admission (medical/surgical, emergency/planned) and had an AUC of 0.75 (95% CI 0.75–0.75). The AKI-23 model additionally included height and weight (AUC 0.77 (95% CI 0.77–0.77)). Performance consistently improved with progressive data availability to AUCs of 0.82 (95% CI 0.82–0.82) for AKI-123 and 0.84 (95% CI 0.83–0.84) for AKI-23 after 24 h. NGAL was less discriminant with AUCs of 0.74 (95% CI 0.74–0.74) for AKI-123 and 0.79 (95% CI 0.79–0.79) for AKI-23.

Conclusions

AKI can be predicted early with models that only use routinely collected clinical information and outperform NGAL measured at ICU admission. The AKI-123 models are available at http://akipredictor.com/. Trial registration Clinical Trials.gov NCT00512122

     

Prevalence and risk factors for acute kidney injury among trauma patients: a multicenter cohort study

Background

Organ failure, including acute kidney injury (AKI), is the third leading cause of death after bleeding and brain injury in trauma patients. We sought to assess the prevalence, the risk factors and the impact of AKI on outcome after trauma.

Methods

We performed a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data from a multicenter trauma registry. AKI was defined according to the risk, injury, failure, loss of kidney function and end-stage kidney disease (RIFLE) classification from serum creatinine only. Prehospital and early hospital risk factors for AKI were identified using logistic regression analysis. The predictive models were internally validated using bootstrapping resampling technique.

Results

We included 3111 patients in the analysis. The incidence of AKI was 13% including 7% stage R, 3.7% stage I and 2.3% stage F. AKI incidence rose to 42.5% in patients presenting with hemorrhagic shock; 96% of AKI occurred within the 5 first days after trauma. In multivariate analysis, prehospital variables including minimum prehospital mean arterial pressure, maximum prehospital heart rate, secondary transfer to the trauma center and data early collected after hospital admission including injury severity score, renal trauma, blood lactate and hemorrhagic shock were independent risk factors in the models predicting AKI. The model had good discrimination with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.85 (0.82–0.88) to predict AKI stage I or F and 0.80 (0.77–0.83) to predict AKI of all stages. Rhabdomyolysis severity, assessed by the creatine kinase peak, was an additional independent risk factor for AKI when it was forced into the model (OR 1.041 (1.015–1.069) per step of 1000?U/mL, p <?0.001). AKI was independently associated with a twofold increase in ICU mortality.

Conclusions

AKI has an early onset and is independently associated with mortality in trauma patients. Its prevalence varies by a factor 3 according to the severity of injuries and hemorrhage. Prehospital and early hospital risk factors can provide good performance for early prediction of AKI after trauma. Hence, studies aiming to prevent AKI should target patients at high risk of AKI and investigate therapies early in the course of trauma care.

     

Incidence and associations of acute kidney injury after major abdominal surgery

Purpose

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a recognised risk factor for adverse outcomes in critical illness and hospitalised patients in general. To understand the incidence and associations of AKI as a peri-operative complication of major abdominal surgery, we conducted a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.

Methods

Using a systematic strategy, we searched the electronic reference databases for articles describing post-operative renal outcomes using consensus criteria for AKI diagnosis (RIFLE, AKIN or KDIGO) in the setting of major abdominal surgery. Pooled incidence of AKI and, where reported, pooled relative risk of death after post-operative AKI were estimated using random effects models.

Results

From 4287 screened titles, 19 articles met our inclusion criteria describing AKI outcomes in 82,514 patients undergoing abdominal surgery. Pooled incidence of AKI was 13.4 % (95 % CI 10.9–16.4 %). In eight studies that reported the short-term mortality, relative risk of death in the presence of post-operative AKI was 12.6 fold (95 % CI, 6.8–23.4). Where reported, length of stay was greater and non-renal post-operative complications were also more frequent in patients experiencing AKI.

Conclusions

Using modern consensus definitions, AKI is a common complication of major abdominal surgery that is associated with adverse patient outcomes including death. While a causative role for AKI cannot be concluded from this analysis, as an important signal of peri-operative harm, AKI should be regarded as an important surgical outcome measure and potential target for clinical interventions.

     

Performance of Doppler-based resistive index and semi-quantitative renal perfusion in predicting persistent AKI: results of a prospective multicenter study

Purpose

The Doppler-based resistive index (RI) and semi-quantitative evaluation of renal perfusion using color Doppler (SQP) have shown promising results for predicting persistent acute kidney injury (AKI) in preliminary studies. This study aimed at evaluating the performance of RI and SQP to predict short-term renal prognosis in critically ill patients.

Methods

Prospective multicenter cohort study including unselected critically ill patients. Renal Doppler was performed at admission to the intensive care unit. The diagnostic performance of RI and SQP to predict persistent AKI at day 3 was evaluated.

Results

Overall, 371 patients were included, of whom 351 could be assessed for short-term renal recovery. Two thirds of the included patients had AKI (n?=?233; 66.3%), of whom 136 had persistent AKI (58.4%). Doppler-based RI was higher and SQP lower in AKI patients and according to AKI recovery. Overall performance in predicting persistent AKI was however poor with area under ROC curve of respectively 0.58 (95% CI 0.52–0.64) and 0.59 (95% CI 0.54–0.65) for RI and SQP. Optimal cutoff was respectively 0.71 and 2 for RI and SQP. At optimal cutoff, sensitivity and specificity were 50% (95% CI 41–58%) and 68% (62–74%) for RI and 39% (32–45%) and 75% (66–82%) for SQP.

Conclusion

Although statistically associated with AKI occurrence, RI and SQP perform poorly in predicting persistent AKI at day 3. Further studies are needed to adequately describe factors influencing Doppler-based assessment of renal perfusion and to delineate whether these indicators may be useful at the bedside.

Clinicaltrial.gov

NCT02355314.

     

Critical care transition programs and the risk of readmission or death after discharge from ICU

Purpose

Critical care transition programs have been widely implemented to improve the safety of patient discharge from ICU, but have undergone limited evaluation. We sought to evaluate implementation of a critical care transition program on patient readmission to ICU (72 h) and mortality (14 days).

Methods

Interrupted time series analysis of 32,234 consecutive adult patients discharged alive from medical-surgical ICUs in eight hospitals in two cities between January 1, 2002 and January 1, 2012. A multidisciplinary ICU provider team (physician, nurse, respiratory therapist) that serially evaluated each patient after ICU discharge was implemented in three hospitals in one city (study group), but not the five hospitals in the other city (control group). Temporal changes were examined using multivariable, segmented linear regression models.

Results

After implementation of the program, there was an immediate non-significant decrease in the absolute proportion of patients readmitted to ICU in the study group (?0.4 %, 95 % CI ?1.7 to +1.0 %) and a non-significant increase in the absolute proportion of patients readmitted to ICU in the control group (+1.0 %, 95 % CI ?0.3 to +2.2 %). Subsequently, there were non-significant changes in the absolute proportion of patients readmitted to ICU in both the study (+0.1 % per quarter; 95 % CI, ?0.1 to +0.2 %) and control (?0.1 per quarter; 95 % CI, ?0.2 to +0.1 %) groups over time. No significant changes were observed in mortality. The results were stable across patient subgroups.

Conclusions

Implementation of a critical care transition program was not associated with patient readmission to ICU or mortality.

     

Association of frailty with short-term outcomes,organ support and resource use in critically ill patients

Purpose

Frail patients are known to experience poor outcomes. Nevertheless, we know less about how frailty manifests itself in patients’ physiology during critical illness and how it affects resource use in intensive care units (ICU). We aimed to assess the association of frailty with short-term outcomes and organ support used by critically ill patients.

Methods

Retrospective analysis of prospective collected data from 93 ICUs in Brazil from 2014 to 2015. We assessed frailty using the modified frailty index (MFI). The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes were discharge home without need for nursing care, ICU and hospital length of stay (LOS), and utilization of ICU organ support and transfusion. We used mixed logistic regression and competing risk models accounting for relevant confounders in outcome analyses.

Results

The analysis consisted of 129,680 eligible patients. There were 40,779 (31.4%) non-frail (MFI?=?0), 64,407 (49.7%) pre-frail (MFI?=?1–2) and 24,494 (18.9%) frail (MFI?≥?3) patients. After adjusted analysis, frailty was associated with higher in-hospital mortality (OR 2.42, 95% CI 1.89–3.08), particularly in patients admitted with lower SOFA scores. Frail patients were less likely to be discharged home (OR 0.36, 95% CI 0.54–0.79) and had higher hospital and ICU LOS than non-frail patients. Use of all forms of organ support (mechanical ventilation, non-invasive ventilation, vasopressors, dialysis and transfusions) were more common in frail patients and increased as MFI increased.

Conclusions

Frailty, as assessed by MFI, was associated with several patient-centered endpoints including not only survival, but also ICU LOS and organ support.

     

Association of social deprivation with 1-year outcome of ICU survivors: results from the FROG-ICU study

Purpose

Intensive care unit survivors suffer from prolonged impairment, reduced quality of life, and higher mortality rates after discharge compared to the general population. Socioeconomic status may play a partial but important role in mortality and recovery. Therefore, the detection of factors that are responsible for poor long-term outcomes would be beneficial in designing targeted interventions for at-risk populations.

Methods

For an endpoint analysis, 1834 intensive care unit patients with known French Deprivation Index (FDep) scores were included from the French and euRopean Outcome reGistry in Intensive Care Units (FROG-ICU) study, which was a prospective, observational, multicenter cohort study performed in 20 French intensive care units in 13 different hospitals. Socioeconomic status was defined by using the FDep score [represented as quintiles when referring to the general French population, as quintiles when referring to the FROG-ICU cohort, or as dichotomized data (which was defined as a FDep?≤?0 for nondeprived patients)] and by using a detailed social questionnaire that was completed 3 months after discharge. The primary outcome included an all-cause, 1-year mortality after ICU discharge when regarding socioeconomic status. The secondary outcomes included both ICU and hospital lengths of stay, both short- and medium-term mortality, and the quality of life, as assessed during the 1-year follow-up by using the Medical Outcome Survey Short Form-36 (SF-36). The Revised Impact of Event Scale (IES-R) was used to evaluate the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used to screen for anxiety and depression.

Results

Of the 1447 patients who were discharged alive from the ICU, 19.2% died over the following year. No association was found between 1-year mortality and socioeconomic status, regardless of whether this association was analyzed in quintiles (p?=?0.911 in the quintiles of the general French population; p?=?0.589 in the quintiles of the FROG-ICU cohort itself) or as dichotomized data [nondeprived (n?=?177; 1-year mortality of 18.2%) versus deprived (n?=?97; 1-year mortality of 20.5%; p?=?0.304)]. Moreover, no differences were found between the nondeprived and the deprived patients in the ICU and hospital lengths of stay, ICU mortalities, in-hospital mortalities, or 28-day mortalities. The SF-36 was below the score for the normal French population throughout the follow-up period. Socially deprived patients showed significantly lower median scores in the physical function subscale [55, interquartile range (IQR) (28.8–80) vs. 65, IQR (35–90); p?=?0.014], the physical role subscale [25, IQR (0–75) vs. 33.3, IQR (0–100); p?=?0.022], and the overall physical component scale [47.5, IQR (30–68.8) vs. 54.4, IQR (35–78.8); p?=?0.010]. Up to 31.6% of survivors presented symptoms that indicated post-traumatic stress disorder, and up to 31.5% of survivors reported clinically meaningful symptoms of anxiety or depression.

Conclusions

A lower socioeconomic status was associated with lower self-reported physical component scores in the nondeprived patients. Psychiatric symptoms are frequently reported after an ICU stay, and subsequent interventions should target those fields.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01367093; registered on June 6, 2011.