[A population-based survey of critical care].
OBJECTIVE
Results of a population-based survey of critical care in a German state are presented. The indication for critical care was derived using the APACHE-II score,which measures the physiologic state of patients, and the TISS-28 score as a measure for expenditure of critical care.


METHODS
During 3 months all adult patients of intensive care units in Saarland, a German state with 1.08 million residents,were included. All kinds of hospitals were involved. Completeness and validity of data are proved.


RESULTS
The TISS score was registered daily on 13,391 adult patients with 54,503 days, the APACHE score during admission and discharge of intensive care units only. The correlation between the scoring-systems and indication, kind of care (critical care vs. intermediate care), kind of hospital, and ICD-10 diagnoses is analysed in this paper.


CONCLUSIONS
In this study the population-based critical care in a state is analysed the first time. It completes previously published studies,which were performed at the level of hospitals and departments.
Feldmann
U
U
Institut für Medizinische Biometrie, Epidemiologie und Medizinische Informatik, Universitätskliniken des Saarlandes, Hamburg. imbei@med-imbei.uniklinik-saarland.de
Larsen
R
R
Georg
T
T
Gräber
S
S
Schmitt
J
J
D018806:APACHE; D003422:Critical Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003625:Data Collection; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D011153:Population; D015203:Reproducibility of Results