Background/Aims@#Only a few
epidemiologic studies on the
patients with pulmonary disorders admitted to
intensive care unit exist. We investigated the characteristics and clinical outcomes of the
patients with severe pulmonary disorders. @*
Methods@#The sample cohort database of
National Health Insurance Sharing Service from 2006 to 2015 was used. Operational definition of
critically ill patients was
adults who were either admitted to
intensive care unit for at least 3 days or expired within first 2 days in the unit. The pulmonary disorder group comprised of
critically ill patients with respiratory
disease as the main
diagnosis. @*Results@#Among the 997,173
patients, 12,983 (1.3%) in 383
intensive care units were categorized as
critically ill.
Patients in the pulmonary disorder group tended to have more comorbidities or disabilities. The length of
hospital stay and duration of
mechanical ventilation were longer in the pulmonary disorder group. Overall
mortality and re-admission were higher in the pulmonary disorder group, with adjusted
incidence rate ratios of 1.22 (95%
confidence interval, 1.18 to 1.27) and 1.26 (95%
confidence interval, 1.17 to 1.36), respectively. After
adjustment by Cox regression, the pulmonary disorder group was an independent
risk factor for
in-hospital mortality. @*Conclusions@#In
critically ill patients with pulmonary disorder, the use of
healthcare resources was higher, and their clinical outcomes were significantly worse than the non-pulmonary disorder group.