Organ function during early acute renal failure does not predict survival in long-term intensive care

Objective To examine outcome in relation to organ function variables during early acute renal failure (ARF).Design Retrospective inception cohort.Setting General intensive care unit (ICU).Patients 69 consecutive ARF cases verified to have a creatinine clearance below 50 ml/min with no history of previous renal disease.Main outcome measure ICU survival.Measurements and results Septic severity score (SSS), creatinine clearance, thrombocyte count, bilirubin concentration, cardiac inotropic support, PaO₂/FIO₂ ratio and oliguria were measured. No differences related to outcome were observed in patients surviving more than 7 days after ARF diagnosis. Patients dying within 7 days of ARF had a significantly higher (worse) SSS. Organ dysfunction was established at the time of ICU admission in the majority of cases.Conclusion The organ function variables tested in this study are of limited predictive value during the early stage of ARF.