title: Outcome of adults with sickle cell disease admitted to critical care - experience of a single institution in the UK.
abstract: Sickle cell disease (SCD) patients are perceived to have a high mortality when admitted to the Critical Care Unit (CCU). We performed a retrospective analysis of all adult sickle admissions to CCU at a single centre over an 8-year period (1 January 2000 to 31 December 2007). Thirty-eight patients (14 male) were admitted 46 times to CCU; the commonest reasons for admission were acute chest syndrome (14, 30%), multi-organ failure (8, 17%) and planned post-elective surgery (7, 15%). CCU mortality for SCD patients was 19.6%, comparable to a CCU-wide mortality of 17.6% during the study period in the same institution. Re-admission to CCU was high (16% over the 8-year period) but did not increase mortality risk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Haematological Medicine, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Denmark Hill, London, UK.
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.forename: Cathy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: Jack L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bartram
authors.forename: Marlene
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Allman
authors.forename: Moji
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Awogbade
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Rees
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ervine
authors.forename: Swee L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Thein
mesh_terms: D056586:Acute Chest Syndrome / Q000209:etiology; D000328:Adult; D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D003422:Critical Care; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009102:Multiple Organ Failure / Q000209:etiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult