Hospital visits before ICU admission signal who will need critical care
Researchers found that patients' healthcare consumption in the three years before ICU admission strongly predicts which patients will require intensive care. The finding suggests hospitals could identify high-risk patients earlier by analyzing admission patterns, potentially allowing preventive interventions that reduce costly ICU stays and improve patient outcomes.
Originaltitel: Can ICU admission be predicted?
<p>After intensive care (IC), patients report poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Many factors affect the patients and influence the HRQoL after discharge. One of these factors is the patient's health status before the critical care period. In a previous study we found that the IC patients have a high frequency of pre-existing diseases. However, it is unknown to what extent these pre-existing diseases affect the consumption of hospital resources (measured as days as inpatients) in the time period before admission to the ICU and during the years following it. The consumption prior to the ICU event may also be claimed to herald an increased risk for a later ICU admittance? The aim of this study was to examine the hospital care consumption of former ICU patients 3 years prior to and 3 years after the intensive care period. This was examined in relation to the pre-existing health status.</p>