title: Influence of social deprivation on intensive care outcome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the influence of social deprivation on outcome from admission to the intensive care unit.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tertiary referral centre mixed adult intensive care unit (ICU).
  
  
  METHODS
  Seven hundred seventy-four consecutive admissions to the ICU over a 2-year period.
  
  
  METHODS
  None.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Age, admission illness severity measured by APACHE II score, predicted hospital mortality, actual hospital mortality and length of ICU stay were obtained for all patients. Social deprivation was assessed by Carstairs Score for postcode sector of residence categorised from 1 (most affluent ) to 7 (most deprived). Carstairs Scores were obtained for 716 patients. When patients in categories 6 and 7 were compared with the others there were no significant differences in age, admission illness severity, predicted or actual hospital mortality and length of ICU stay. On multivariate analysis there was no evidence of an increased mortality risk for patients in categories 6 and 7 (p = 0.256, odds ratio 1.2, 95% confidence interval 0.9-1.7).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Social deprivation does not influence outcome in patients admitted to the ICU.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Mayo Foundation, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. findlay.james@mayo.edu
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Findlay
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Plenderleith
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Schroeder
mesh_terms: D018806:APACHE; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012606:Scotland; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome