Paciente crítico senescente / Geriatric intensive care

RESUMO

We have reviewed the evolution of 661 consecutive patients, older than 75 years admitted to our Intensive Care Unit of a total of 2725 discharges during the last 9 years, to evaluate whether age is by itself a limiting factor to decide admission to this type of units. Patients older than 75 have amounted to 24.25% of our admissions during the mentioned period, and admission wes caused in the majority of instances by cardiocirculatory disease. Mortality, although greater with older age, (24.65%) is only 20.25% in our series. There are no differences in the mean period of stay of older patients (5.69 ñ 2.72 days) as regards survical of death in the unit, and there are no differences either in their stay and that of the whole of the patients admitted to the Unit during the period of study. We conclude the age is not, by itself, a parameter which should limitate the admission of a patient to an Intensive Care Unit