Severe head injury patients in a multidisciplinary ICU: are they a burden?
OBJECTIVE
Patients with severe head injury (HI) are often considered to be a burden in a multidisciplinary intensive care unit (ICU). This study was undertaken to compare the severe closed HI patients with all other patients in the ICU in terms of age group involved, stay in the unit, complications and outcome.


METHODS
Retrospective analysis.


METHODS
Multidisciplinary ICU of a tertiary care hospital in Northern India.


METHODS
All the patients admitted to the ICU between January 1995 and December 1997. The patients were classified into two groups: group A comprising patients with severe closed HI and group B consisting of all other patients.


RESULTS
The mean age of the patients was around 30 years in both the groups. The average stay of the patients in the unit was 12.71 +/- 11.9 days in group A, compared to 9.9 +/- 14.4 days for group B (p < 0.05). The duration on the ventilator or on an endotracheal airway was not different between the groups (p > 0.05). The mortality in group A was 46.8 % and that in group B was 38.5 % (p > 0.05). The mortality was directly proportional to the age in group A. Hypotension, renal failure and septicaemia were the commonest complications in both the groups but the difference was not statistically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates that patients with severe HI do not pose an extra burden in a multidisciplinary ICU.
Kannan
S
S
Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160 012, India. achalu@aol.com
Marudachalam
K S
KS
Puri
G D
GD
Chari
P
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D017281:Cost of Illness; D016638:Critical Illness / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D016489:Head Injuries, Closed / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014139:Tracheostomy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data