Mortality in patients older than 65 years in the Intensive Care Area in the Hospital Universitario San Ignacio in 2014

Introduction: Admitting elderly, critically ill patients to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is controversial. A comparison is made with the mortality data of a subgroup of elderly patients who were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of a general hospital in Colombia with internationally published outcomes. Aim: To describe the causes of admission and mortality of elderly patients who were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of a general hospital in Colombia. Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was carried out using the APACHE IV database of the ICU of San Ignacio Hospital. The demographic, diagnostic and outcome variables were recorded. Results: An analysis was made with the data from 107 patients with a mean age average of 75.8 (SD 6.18) years, of whom 56.07% were males and 43.9% females. The median ICU length of stay was 9.26 days (SD: 7.99). The ICU mortality proportion was 30.8%. Respiratory diseases were the most common diagnoses requiring ICU, representing 36.45% of the admissions. Most (96.2%) of patients required mechanical ventilation. Cardiovascular and renal complications were mainly associated with mortality in this population and, 85.1% had of one or more geriatric syndromes. Conclusions: Age was not a factor directly associated with mortality, Respiratory diseases were the main reasons for admission. The principal causes of mortality were infectious diseases. Malnutrition and immobility were the leading geriatric syndromes.