Table 1 Characteristics of study population and participating units
Characteristics | LowABR countries | HighABR countries | p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Of ICUs | N = 54 | N = 231 | ||
Staffed ICU beds, n (%) | ||||
<7 | 14 (25.9) | 67 (29.0) | 0.9 | |
7-14 | 30 (55.6) | 122 (52.8) | ||
15+ | 10 (18.5) | 42 (18.2) | ||
Nurse:patient, n (%) | ||||
>1:1 | 19 (35.2) | 16 (6.9) | <0.001 | |
1:1-1:1.49 | 14 (25.9) | 42 (18.2) | ||
1:1.5-1:1.99 | 18 (33.3) | 78 (33.8) | ||
<1:2 | 3 (5.6) | 95 (41.1) | ||
24-hr in-house intensivist | 48 (88.9) | 231 (100%) | <0.001 | |
Of patients | N = 558 | N = 2204 | ||
Age, median (25-75 percentile) | 65 (53-74) | 65 (51-74) | 0.574 | |
SAPS II score, median (25-75 percentile) | 31 (25-39) | 34 (26-44) | <0.001 | |
SOFA score, median (25-75 percentile) | 5 (3-8) | 5 (3-8) | 0.806 | |
Length of stay in days in ICU prior to study day, median (25-75 percentile) | 1 (0-6) | 4 (0-14) | <0.001 | |
Infected | 255 (45.7) | 1187 (53.9) | 0.001 | |
Type of admission, n (%) | Surgical, elective | 203 (36.5) | 455 (20.7) | <0.001 |
Surgical, emergency | 200 (36.0) | 952 (43.2) | ||
Medical | 114 (20.5) | 534 (24.3) | ||
Trauma | 39 (7.0) | 261 (11.9) | ||
Admission source, n (%) | OR/recovery | 205 (37.7) | 472 (21.5) | < 0.001 |
ED/ambulance | 111 (20.4) | 680 (31.0) | ||
Hospital ward | 160 (29.4) | 713 (32.5) | ||
Other hospital | 61 (11.2) | 273 (12.4) | ||
Other | 7 (1.3) | 55 (2.5) | ||
Main reason for admission, n (%) | Surveillance/monitoring | 158 (28.3) | 336 (15.2) | < 0.001 |
Neurological | 56 (10.0) | 350 (15.9) | ||
Respiratory | 119 (21.3) | 527 (23.9) | ||
Cardiovascular | 119 (21.3) | 579 (26.3) | ||
Renal | 5 (0.9) | 33 (1.5) | ||
Digestive/liver | 53 (9.5) | 154 (7.0) | ||
Trauma | 36 (6.5) | 198 (9.0) | ||
Other | 12 (2.2) | 27 (1.2) | ||
Co-morbidities, n (%) | COPD | 77 (13.8) | 457 (20.7) | <0.001 |
Haematological cancer | 11 (2.0) | 49 (2.2) | 0.715 | |
Cancer | 82 (14.7) | 341 (15.5) | 0.649 | |
IDDM | 42 (7.5) | 221 (10.0) | 0.072 | |
Heart Failure (NYHA III-IV) | 59 (10.6) | 231 (10.5) | 0.949 | |
CRF | 14 (2.5) | 165 (7.5) | <0.001 | |
HIV | 2 (0.4) | 15 (0.7) | 0.385 | |
Cirrhosis | 14 (2.5) | 65 (2.9) | 0.577 | |
Immunosuppression | 24 (4.3) | 95 (4.3) | 0.992 | |
Number of co-morbidities, n (%) | None | 282 (50.5) | 1011 (45.9) | 0.029 |
1 | 195 (34.9) | 746 (33.8) | ||
2 | 61 (10.9) | 313 (14.2) | ||
3 | 16 (2.9) | 103 (4.7) | ||
>3 | 4 (0.7) | 31 (1.4) | ||
Treatments, n (%) | Mechanical ventilation | 359 (64.7) | 1388 (63.1) | 0.502 |
Haemofiltration or haemodialysis | 47 (8.5) | 171 (7.8) | 0.591 | |
Length of stay, median (25-75 percentile) | ICU | 5 (1-19) | 12 (3-31) | < 0.001 |
Hospital | 16 (7-37) | 24 (10-54) | <0.001 | |
Mortality | ICU | 83 (15.4) | 408 (20.0) | 0.016 |
Hospital | 116 (21.5) | 551 (27.0) | 0.01 | |