Case mix,outcome and activity for obstetric admissions to adult,general critical care units: a secondary analysis of the ICNARC Case Mix Programme Database

Introduction

Risk prediction scores usually overestimate mortality in obstetric populations because mortality rates in this group are considerably lower than in others. Studies examining this effect were generally small and did not distinguish between obstetric and nonobstetric pathologies. We evaluated the performance of the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II model in obstetric admissions to critical care units contributing to the ICNARC Case Mix Programme.

Methods

All obstetric admissions were extracted from the ICNARC Case Mix Programme Database of 219,468 admissions to UK critical care units from 1995 to 2003 inclusive. Cases were divided into direct obstetric pathologies and indirect or coincidental pathologies, and compared with a control cohort of all women aged 16–50 years not included in the obstetric categories. The predictive ability of APACHE II was evaluated in the three groups. A prognostic model was developed for direct obstetric admissions to predict the risk for hospital mortality. A log-linear model was developed to predict the length of stay in the critical care unit.

Results

A total of 1452 direct obstetric admissions were identified, the most common pathologies being haemorrhage and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. There were 278 admissions identified as indirect or coincidental and 22,938 in the nonpregnant control cohort. Hospital mortality rates were 2.2%, 6.0% and 19.6% for the direct obstetric group, the indirect or coincidental group, and the control cohort, respectively. Cox regression calibration analysis showed a reasonable fit of the APACHE II model for the nonpregnant control cohort (slope = 1.1, intercept = -0.1). However, the APACHE II model vastly overestimated mortality for obstetric admissions (mortality ratio = 0.25). Risk prediction modelling demonstrated that the Glasgow Coma Scale score was the best discriminator between survival and death in obstetric admissions.

Conclusion

This study confirms that APACHE II overestimates mortality in obstetric admissions to critical care units. This may be because of the physiological changes in pregnancy or the unique scoring profile of obstetric pathologies such as HELLP syndrome. It may be possible to recalibrate the APACHE II score for obstetric admissions or to devise an alternative score specifically for obstetric admissions.

     

Characteristics and outcome for admissions to adult,general critical care units with acute severe asthma: a secondary analysis of the ICNARC Case Mix Programme Database

Introduction

This report describes the case mix, outcome and activity (duration of intensive care unit [ICU] and hospital stay, inter-hospital transfer, and readmissions to the ICU) for admissions to ICUs for acute severe asthma, and investigates the effect of case mix factors on outcome.

Methods

We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a high-quality clinical database (the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre [ICNARC] Case Mix Programme Database) of 129,647 admissions to 128 adult, general critical care units across England, Wales and Northern Ireland over the period 1995–2001.

Results

Asthma accounted for 2152 (1.7%) admissions, and in 57% mechanical ventilation was employed during the first 24 hours in the ICU. A total of 147 (7.1%) patients died in intensive care and 199 (9.8%) died before discharge from hospital. The mean age was 43.6 years, and the ratio of women to men was 2:1. Median length of stay was 1.5 days in the ICU and 8 days in hospital. Older age, female sex, having received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) within 24 hours before admission, having suffered a neurological insult during the first 24 hours in the ICU, higher heart rate, and hypercapnia were associated with greater risk for in-hospital death after adjusting for Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score. CPR before admission, neurological insult, hypoxaemia and hypercapnia were associated with receipt of mechanical ventilation after adjusting for Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score.

Conclusion

ICU admission for asthma is relatively uncommon but remains associated with appreciable in-hospital mortality. The greatest determinant of poor hospital survival in asthma patients was receipt of CPR within 24 hours before admission to ICU. Clinical management of these patients should be directed at preventing cardiac arrest before admission.

     

Characteristics and outcome for admissions to adult, general critical care units with acute severe asthma: a secondary analysis of the ICNARC Case Mix Programme Database

Introduction  

This report describes the case mix, outcome and activity (duration of intensive care unit [ICU] and hospital stay, inter-hospital transfer, and readmissions to the ICU) for admissions to ICUs for acute severe asthma, and investigates the effect of case mix factors on outcome.     

Characteristics and outcome for admissions to adult, general critical care units with acute severe asthma: a secondary analysis of the ICNARC Case Mix Programme Database

Introduction

This report describes the case mix, outcome and activity (duration of intensive care unit [ICU] and hospital stay, inter-hospital transfer, and readmissions to the ICU) for admissions to ICUs for acute severe asthma, and investigates the effect of case mix factors on outcome.

Methods

We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a high-quality clinical database (the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre [ICNARC] Case Mix Programme Database) of 129,647 admissions to 128 adult, general critical care units across England, Wales and Northern Ireland over the period 1995–2001.

Results

Asthma accounted for 2152 (1.7%) admissions, and in 57% mechanical ventilation was employed during the first 24 hours in the ICU. A total of 147 (7.1%) patients died in intensive care and 199 (9.8%) died before discharge from hospital. The mean age was 43.6 years, and the ratio of women to men was 2:1. Median length of stay was 1.5 days in the ICU and 8 days in hospital. Older age, female sex, having received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) within 24 hours before admission, having suffered a neurological insult during the first 24 hours in the ICU, higher heart rate, and hypercapnia were associated with greater risk for in-hospital death after adjusting for Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score. CPR before admission, neurological insult, hypoxaemia and hypercapnia were associated with receipt of mechanical ventilation after adjusting for Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score.

Conclusion

ICU admission for asthma is relatively uncommon but remains associated with appreciable in-hospital mortality. The greatest determinant of poor hospital survival in asthma patients was receipt of CPR within 24 hours before admission to ICU. Clinical management of these patients should be directed at preventing cardiac arrest before admission.     

Case mix,outcomes and comparison of risk prediction models for admissions to adult,general and specialist critical care units for head injury: a secondary analysis of the ICNARC Case Mix Programme Database

Introduction

This report describes the case mix and outcome (mortality, intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital length of stay) for admissions to ICU for head injury and evaluates the predictive ability of five risk adjustment models.

Methods

A secondary analysis was conducted of data from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC) Case Mix Programme, a high quality clinical database, of 374,594 admissions to 171 adult critical care units across England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1995 to 2005. The discrimination and calibration of five risk prediction models, SAPS II, MPM II, APACHE II and III and the ICNARC model plus raw Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) were compared.

Results

There were 11,021 admissions following traumatic brain injury identified (3% of all database admissions). Mortality in ICU was 23.5% and in-hospital was 33.5%. Median ICU and hospital lengths of stay were 3.2 and 24 days, respectively, for survivors and 1.6 and 3 days, respectively, for non-survivors. The ICNARC model, SAPS II and MPM II discriminated best between survivors and non-survivors and were better calibrated than raw GCS, APACHE II and III in 5,393 patients eligible for all models.

Conclusion

Traumatic brain injury requiring intensive care has a high mortality rate. Non-survivors have a short length of ICU and hospital stay. APACHE II and III have poorer calibration and discrimination than SAPS II, MPM II and the ICNARC model in traumatic brain injury; however, no model had perfect calibration.

     

Admission factors associated with hospital mortality in patients with haematological malignancy admitted to UK adult, general critical care units: a secondary analysis of the ICNARC Case Mix Programme Database

Introduction  

Patients with haematological malignancy admitted to intensive care have a high mortality. Adverse prognostic factors include the number of organ failures, invasive mechanical ventilation and previous bone marrow transplantation. Severity-of-illness scores may underestimate the mortality of critically ill patients with haematological malignancy. This study investigates the relationship between admission characteristics and outcome in patients with haematological malignancies admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and assesses the performance of three severity-of-illness scores in this population.     

Case mix,outcome and activity for patients admitted to intensive care units requiring chronic renal dialysis: a secondary analysis of the ICNARC Case Mix Programme Database

Introduction  

This report describes the case mix, outcome and activity for admissions to intensive care units (ICUs) of patients who require prior chronic renal dialysis for end-stage renal failure (ESRF), and investigates the effect of case mix factors on outcome.     

Case mix, outcome and length of stay for admissions to adult, general critical care units in England, Wales and Northern Ireland: the Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre Case Mix Programme Database

Introduction

The present paper describes the methods of data collection and validation employed in the Intensive Care National Audit &; Research Centre Case Mix Programme (CMP), a national comparative audit of outcome for adult, critical care admissions. The paper also describes the case mix, outcome and activity of the admissions in the Case Mix Programme Database (CMPD).

Methods

The CMP collects data on consecutive admissions to adult, general critical care units in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Explicit steps are taken to ensure the accuracy of the data, including use of a dataset specification, of initial and refresher training courses, and of local and central validation of submitted data for incomplete, illogical and inconsistent values. Criteria for evaluating clinical databases developed by the Directory of Clinical Databases were applied to the CMPD. The case mix, outcome and activity for all admissions were briefly summarised.

Results

The mean quality level achieved by the CMPD for the 10 Directory of Clinical Databases criteria was 3.4 (on a scale of 1 = worst to 4 = best). The CMPD contained validated data on 129,647 admissions to 128 units. The median age was 63 years, and 59% were male. The mean Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score was 16.5. Mortality was 20.3% in the CMP unit and was 30.8% at ultimate discharge from hospital. Nonsurvivors stayed longer in intensive care than did survivors (median 2.0 days versus 1.7 days in the CMP unit) but had a shorter total hospital length of stay (9 days versus 16 days). Results for the CMPD were comparable with results from other published reports of UK critical care admissions.

Conclusions

The CMP uses rigorous methods to ensure data are complete, valid and reliable. The CMP scores well against published criteria for high-quality clinical databases.     

Outcomes following oesophagectomy in patients with oesophageal cancer: a secondary analysis of the ICNARC Case Mix Programme Database

Introduction

This report describes the case mix and outcomes of patients with oesophageal cancer admitted to adult critical care units following elective oesophageal surgery in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Methods

Admissions to critical care following elective oesophageal surgery for malignancy were identified using data from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC) Case Mix Programme Database. Information on admissions between December 1995 and September 2007 were extracted and the association between in-hospital mortality and patient characteristics on admission to critical care was assessed using multiple logistic regression analysis. The performance of three prognostic models (Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) II, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II and the ICNARC physiology score) was also evaluated.

Results

Between 1995 and 2007, there were 7227 admissions to 181 critical care units following oesophageal surgery for malignancy. Overall mortality in critical care was 4.4% and in-hospital mortality was 11%, although both declined steadily over time. Eight hundred and seventy-three (12.2%) patients were readmitted to critical care, most commonly for respiratory complications (49%) and surgical complications (25%). Readmitted patients had a critical care unit mortality of 24.7% and in-hospital mortality of 33.9%. Overall in-hospital mortality was associated with patient age, and various physiological measurements on admission to critical care (partial pressure of arterial oxygen (PaO₂):fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO₂) ratio, lowest arterial pH, mechanical ventilation, serum albumin, urea and creatinine). The three prognostic models evaluated performed poorly in measures of discrimination, calibration and goodness of fit.

Conclusions

Surgery for oesophageal malignancy continues to be associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Age and organ dysfunction in the early postoperative period are associated with an increased risk of death. Postoperative serum albumin is confirmed as an additional prognostic factor. More work is required to determine how this knowledge may improve clinical management.

     

Community-acquired pneumonia on the intensive care unit: secondary analysis of 17,869 cases in the ICNARC Case Mix Programme Database

Introduction

This paper describes the case mix, outcome and activity for admissions to intensive care units (ICUs) with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).

Methods

We conducted a secondary analysis of a high quality clinical database, the Intensive Care National Audit &; Research Centre (ICNARC) Case Mix Programme Database, of 301,871 admissions to 172 adult ICUs across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 1995 to 2004. Cases of CAP were identified from pneumonia admissions excluding nosocomial pneumonias and the immuno-compromised. It was not possible to review data from the time of hospital admission; therefore, some patients who developed hospital-acquired/nosocomial pneumonia may have been included.

Results

We identified 17,869 cases of CAP (5.9% of all ICU admissions). There was a 128% increase in admissions for CAP from 12.8 per unit to 29.2 per unit during the study period compared to only a 24% rise in total ICU admissions (p < 0.001). Eighty-five percent of admissions were from within the same hospital. Fifty-nine percent of cases were admitted to the ICU <2 days, 21.5% between 2 and 7 days, and 19.5% >7 days after hospital admission. Between 1995 and 1999 and 2000 and 2004 there was a rise in admissions from accident and emergency (14.8% to 16.8%; p < 0.001) and high dependency units (6.9% to 11.9%; p < 0.001) within the same hospital, those aged >74 (18.5 to 26.1%; p < 0.001), and mean APACHE II score (6.83 to 6.91; p < 0.001). There was a fall in past history of severe respiratory problems (8.7% to 6.4%; p < 0.001), renal replacement therapy (1.6% to 1.2%; p < 0.01), steroid treatment (3.4% to 2.8%; p < 0.05), sedation/paralysis (50.2% to 40.4%; p < 0.001), cardiopulmonary resuscitation prior to admission (7.5% to 5.5%; p < 0.001), and septic shock (7.3% to 6.6%; p < 0.001). ICU mortality was 34.9% and ultimate hospital mortality 49.4%. Mortality was 46.3% in those admitted to the ICU within 2 days of hospital admission rising to 50.4% in those admitted at 2 to 7 days and 57.6% in those admitted after 7 days following hospital admission.

Conclusion

CAP makes up a small, but important and rising, proportion of adult ICU admissions. Survival of over half of all cases vindicates the use of ICU facilities in CAP management. Nevertheless, overall mortality remains high, especially in those admitted later in their hospital stay.

     

Case mix,outcome and length of stay for admissions to adult,general critical care units in England,Wales and Northern Ireland: the Intensive Care National Audit &amp; Research Centre Case Mix Programme Database

Introduction

The present paper describes the methods of data collection and validation employed in the Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre Case Mix Programme (CMP), a national comparative audit of outcome for adult, critical care admissions. The paper also describes the case mix, outcome and activity of the admissions in the Case Mix Programme Database (CMPD).

Methods

The CMP collects data on consecutive admissions to adult, general critical care units in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Explicit steps are taken to ensure the accuracy of the data, including use of a dataset specification, of initial and refresher training courses, and of local and central validation of submitted data for incomplete, illogical and inconsistent values. Criteria for evaluating clinical databases developed by the Directory of Clinical Databases were applied to the CMPD. The case mix, outcome and activity for all admissions were briefly summarised.

Results

The mean quality level achieved by the CMPD for the 10 Directory of Clinical Databases criteria was 3.4 (on a scale of 1 = worst to 4 = best). The CMPD contained validated data on 129,647 admissions to 128 units. The median age was 63 years, and 59% were male. The mean Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score was 16.5. Mortality was 20.3% in the CMP unit and was 30.8% at ultimate discharge from hospital. Nonsurvivors stayed longer in intensive care than did survivors (median 2.0 days versus 1.7 days in the CMP unit) but had a shorter total hospital length of stay (9 days versus 16 days). Results for the CMPD were comparable with results from other published reports of UK critical care admissions.

Conclusions

The CMP uses rigorous methods to ensure data are complete, valid and reliable. The CMP scores well against published criteria for high-quality clinical databases.

     

The epidemiology of severe sepsis in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 1996 to 2004: secondary analysis of a high quality clinical database, the ICNARC Case Mix Programme Database

Introduction  

To evaluate the impact of recent evidence-based treatments for severe sepsis in routine clinical care requires an understanding of the underlying epidemiology, particularly with regard to trends over time. We interrogated a high quality clinical database to examine trends in the incidence and mortality of severe sepsis over a nine-year period.     

Modernising chronic obstructive pulmonary disease admissions to improve patient care: Local outcomes from implementing the Ideal Design of Emergency Access project

This project illustrates how benefits to patients, carers, staff and NHS trusts can result from service redesign that is targeted at improving services for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Using a Continuous Quality Improvement methodology and 'plan-do-study-act' cycles, this project established key local measures for service redesign based on the national Ideal Design of Emergency Care project. These were to improve patients' experiences of care, by: decreasing patient journey time, improving patient, carer and staff experiences and reducing process variability. The result was a reduction in the average length of stay for patients and an increase in the numbers of patients admitted directly to the emergency medical unit and transferred to the respiratory department. Service users were actively involved in developing the changes. Although not generalizable, this project provides useful insights for consideration by others facing similar issues in their own organisations: we conclude that the methodology used in this study has been instrumental in improving key aspects of patient care, and that a similar methodological approach could be effective for other organisations.     

Recalibration of risk prediction models in a large multicenter cohort of admissions to adult, general critical care units in the United Kingdom

OBJECTIVE: To assess the performance of published risk prediction models in common use in adult critical care in the United Kingdom and to recalibrate these models in a large representative database of critical care admissions. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: A total of 163 adult general critical care units in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, during the period of December 1995 to August 2003. PATIENTS: A total of 231,930 admissions, of which 141,106 met inclusion criteria and had sufficient data recorded for all risk prediction models. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The published versions of the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II, APACHE II UK, APACHE III, Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) II, and Mortality Probability Models (MPM) II were evaluated for discrimination and calibration by means of a combination of appropriate statistical measures recommended by an expert steering committee. All models showed good discrimination (the c index varied from 0.803 to 0.832) but imperfect calibration. Recalibration of the models, which was performed by both the Cox method and re-estimating coefficients, led to improved discrimination and calibration, although all models still showed significant departures from perfect calibration. CONCLUSIONS: Risk prediction models developed in another country require validation and recalibration before being used to provide risk-adjusted outcomes within a new country setting. Periodic reassessment is beneficial to ensure calibration is maintained.     

慢性阻塞性肺疾病患者的延续护理

介绍了1例慢性阻塞性肺疾病患者延续护理的具体实施过程及护理成效。主要护理干预为出院计划,出院后家庭访视、电话随访2个阶段,包括全面的护理评估、建立共同的护理目标、个性化的健康教育、指导和咨询、治疗和程序、个案管理和监测,以及持续护理成效评价,关键是实施以循证为基础的标准化护理干预方案。     

慢性阻塞性肺疾病继发肺部真菌感染56例临床分析

目的 探讨慢性阻塞性肺疾病（COPD）患者继发肺部真菌感染的临床特点及危险因素.方法 回顾性分析296例COPD患者的临床资料,其中56例继发肺部真菌感染为感染组,未发生真菌感染240例为非感染组.分析比较两组患者使用抗生素种类、抗生素应用疗程,以及应用激素情况;低蛋白血症、侵入性操作、死亡例数情况.通过痰涂片培养结果确定真菌种类.结果 感染组病死率16.1％（9/56）明显高于非感染组6.2％ （15/240）,差异有统计学意义（x2=6.436,P＜0.05）;感染组使用抗生素种类（2.6±0.8）种、应用抗生素疗程（15.4±2.6）d、应用激素比例[41.1％ （23/56）]、低蛋白血症比例[57.1％ （32/56）]、侵入性操作比例[35.7％ （20/56）]均大于非感染组[（1.6±0.6）种、（9.6±2.2）d、8.3％ （20/240）、12.1％（29/240）、5.4％ （13/240）],差异有统计学意义（P均＜0.05）;非感染组治疗总有效率90.4％ （217/240）高于感染组78.6％ （44/56）,差异有统计学意义（x2=4.248,P＜0.05）.感染组真菌感染种类主要以白色念珠菌为主.结论 长期使用高档抗生素、应用激素、低蛋白血症及侵入性操作是引起COPD继发真菌感染的主要因素.在抗真菌治疗中,主要针对病原菌治疗,根据痰培养结果选择抗真菌药物.