Impact of adverse events on outcomes in intensive care unit patients.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between predefined adverse events (AE) (including nosocomial infections) and intensive care unit (ICU) mortality, controlling for multiple adverse events in the same patient and confounding variables.


METHODS
Prospective observational cohort study of the French OUTCOMEREA multicenter database.


METHODS
Twelve medical or surgical ICUs.


METHODS
Unselected patients hospitalized for > or = 48 hrs enrolled between 1997 and 2003.


METHODS
None.


RESULTS
Of the 3,611 patients included, 1415 (39.2%) experienced one or more AEs and 821 (22.7%) had two or more AEs. Mean number of AEs per patient was 2.8 (range, 1-26). Six AEs were associated with death: primary or catheter-related bloodstream infection (BSI) (odds ratio [OR], 2.92; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.6-5.32), BSI from other sources (OR, 5.7; 95% CI, 2.66-12.05), nonbacteremic pneumonia (OR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.17-2.44), deep and organ/space surgical site infection without BSI (OR, 3; 95% CI, 1.3-6.8), pneumothorax (OR, 3.1; 95% CI, 1.5-6.3), and gastrointestinal bleeding (OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.4-4.9). The results were not changed when the analysis was confined to patients with mechanical ventilation on day 1, intermediate severity of illness (Simplified Acute Physiology Score II between 35 and 55), no treatment-limitation decisions, or no cardiac arrest in the ICU.


CONCLUSIONS
AEs were common and often occurred in combination in individual patients. Several AEs independently contributed to death. Creating a safe ICU environment is a challenging task that deserves careful attention from ICU physicians.
Garrouste Orgeas
Maite
M
Medical-Surgical ICU, Saint Joseph Hospital Network, Paris, France. mgarrouste@outcomerea.org
Timsit
Jean Francois
JF
Soufir
Lilia
L
Tafflet
Muriel
M
Adrie
Christophe
C
Philippart
Francois
F
Zahar
Jean Ralph
JR
Clec'h
Christophe
C
Goldran-Toledano
Dany
D
Jamali
Samir
S
Dumenil
Anne-Sylvie
AS
Azoulay
Elie
E
Carlet
Jean
J
D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000145:classification / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012720:Severity of Illness Index