ABSTRACT
Survival, quality of life, and need for continuing medical care were evaluated for 134 elderly patients admitted to the intensive care units (ICU) at Stanford University Hospital and for a control group. Of the patient group, 57.5% were admitted to the ICU following elective surgery; 42.5% were emergency surgical and medical patients. Hospital mortality was 3.9% for elective and 22.8% for nonelective patients; 18-month mortality was 13.0% and 47.4%, respectively. Fifty-nine patients (60.8% of survivors) completed follow-up questionnaires. Subjective and objective quality of life was good. Quality of life was slightly worse for ICU survivors than for controls; elective and nonelective patients did not differ significantly. Although the cost of ICU hospitalization was high, additional medical care was not excessive. Nonelective patients required more continuing care than elective patients, and both groups required more than controls.
Subject(s)
Critical Care , Patient Selection , Quality of Life , Resource Allocation , Activities of Daily Living , Aged , Critical Care/economics , Employment , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Health Status , Humans , Male , Mortality , Patient AdmissionABSTRACT
Results of a family study of Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome (TS) suggest that TS and attention deficit disorder (ADD) with hyperactivity are genetically separate disorders transmitted independently in families at risk. Although the rate of TS among the relatives of the two proband groups was virtually the same (10.3% vs 11.1%), the rate of ADD among the relatives of probands with TS and ADD with hyperactivity was approximately eight times higher than the rate of ADD among the relatives of the probands with TS only. In those families where the proband had both TS and ADD, the two traits segregated independently. Therefore, there is no evidence to suggest that the two disorders are genetically related.