Key result
Intensive care survivors had a 3.4 times higher risk of dying in the first year after discharge compared to an age and sex-matched normal population (RR 3.4; 95% CI 2.7-4.2).
Why the study?
What is the long-term survival of intensive care patients compared to an age and sex-matched population?
Cohort (n=1,168)
No
What is the long-term survival of intensive care patients compared to an age and sex-matched population?
Survivors of critical illness have a significantly higher mortality risk in the first three years after discharge compared to the general population, normalizing only by the fourth year.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May support closer post-ICU surveillance; leaves open whether interventions reduce excess mortality.
The life expectancy for survivors of critical illness has not been reported in the United Kingdom. The aim of this study was to compare the long-term survival of intensive care patients with that of an age and sex-matched population. All patients admitted to a general intensive therapy unit over 4 years (n = 1168) were included in the study. Details of the survivors were forwarded to the Registrar General for Scotland, who then issued copies of death certificates as the survivors died. The survival curve of patients discharged from the intensive therapy unit was significantly different from that of the normal population. The risk of dying in the first year after discharge was 3.4 times higher (95% confidence intervals 2.7-4.2) than that in the normal population. It is not until the start of the fourth year after discharge that the probability of death matched that of the normal population.
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Ridley et al. (1994) conducted a cohort in Critical illness (n=1,168). Intensive care admission vs. Age and sex-matched normal population was evaluated on Risk of dying in the first year after discharge (RR 3.4, 95% CI 2.7-4.2). Intensive care survivors had a 3.4 times higher risk of dying in the first year after discharge compared to an age and sex-matched normal population (RR 3.4; 95% CI 2.7-4.2).
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