The charts of all
patients admitted to an
intensive care unit of a
University Hospital , during 1 year, were reviewed. The
diagnosis that caused the admission was considered the main
disease . Severity at the moment of admission was assesses using the
Apache asore. A total of 777
patients were admitted during the study period. Twenty had to be excluded due to lack of reliable data. Four hundred thirty two (57 percent) were over 65 years old.
Cardiovascular diseases were the main cause of admission in young and old
patients .
Mortality was 14,8 percent of
patients over 65 years old and 18.7 percent in younger
patients . Main
causes of death were
cardiac arrest ,
cardiogenic shock ,
sepsis and
cerebrovascular disease . No differences in
causes of death were observed between young and old
patients .
Patients older than 65 years old admitted to
intensive care units are very
similar to the younger counterparts in their
prognosis and causes of admission