Outcome and quality of life of elderly critically ill patients: An Italian prospective observational study

Should Very Old Patients Be Admitted to the Intensive Care Units?

“…Zealand [9], Finland [10], and Saudi Arabia [21], the percentage of ICU admissions attributable to very elderly patients was higher. However, the percentage was lower than the result of an Italian study by Pavoni et al [22].…”

Understanding and Reducing Disability in Older Adults Following Critical Illness*

“…We also reviewed the bibliographies of relevant citations to identify additional citations. Overall, 19 studies met these criteria (2, 3, 29–45): 17 studies reported disability outcomes (2, 29–38, 40–42, 44), 2 studies reported cognitive outcomes (3, 45) and 2 studies reported both (39, 43). …”

“…All four studies that assessed IADLs used the Lawton Index (48). Of the three studies that assessed mobility status (2, 35, 44) each used different scoring measures (35, 49, 50). Most studies assessed outcomes less than 12 months following critical illness.…”

The ageing patient – sans everything?

“…The fitter the patient, the less likely he/she is to experience complications, and this is true for both cardiac and non-cardiac surgery [3,4]. Outcomes are considerably worse if the surgery is unplanned; one study in the over-80s showed that the sixmonth mortality rate after discharge from intensive care units (ICUs) was 30% for patients having planned surgery compared with 76% for those having emergency surgery [5]. Elderly patients presenting as emergencies have been eloquently described as 'a heterogeneous cohort of both potentially treatable patients and those who are dying' [6].…”