Increased nonbeneficial care in patients spending their birthday in the ICU.
OBJECTIVE
End-of-life decisions are based on objective and subjective criteria. Previous studies identified substantial subjective biases during end-of-life decision-making. We evaluated whether in-ICU patient's birthday influenced management decisions.


METHODS
We used a case-control design in which patients spending their birthday in the ICU (cases) were matched to controls on center, gender, age, severity, type of admission, and length of ICU stay before birthday.


METHODS
12 ICUs in French hospitals.


METHODS
The cases and controls were patients with ICU admissions >48 h over a 10-year period.


METHODS
None.


RESULTS
Compared with the 1,042 controls, the 223 cases were more often trauma patients and received a larger number and longer durations of life-sustaining interventions. This increased intensity of life support occurred after, but not before, the birthday. The cases had longer ICU stay lengths. ICU and hospital mortality were not different between the two groups. End-of-life decisions were made in 22% and 24% of cases and controls, respectively. However, these decisions were made later in the cases than in the controls (18 [5-33] versus 9 [3-19] days).


CONCLUSIONS
Our finding that patients who spent their birthday in the ICU received a higher intensity of life-sustaining care and had longer ICU stays but did not have significantly different mortality rates compared with the controls suggests the use of nonbeneficial interventions. Staff members caring for patients whose birthdays fall during the ICU stay should be aware that this feature can bias end-of-life decisions, leading to an inappropriate level of care.
Medical ICU, AP-HP, Hôpital Saint-Louis, 1 Avenue Claude Vellefaux, 75010, Paris, France. elie.azoulay@sls.ap-hop-paris.fr
Elie
E
Azoulay
Maité
M
Garrouste
Dany
D
Goldgran-Toledano
Christophe
C
Adrie
Adeline
A
Max
Aurélien
A
Vesin
Adrien
A
Francais
Jean-Ralph
JR
Zahar
Yves
Y
Cohen
Bernard
B
Allaouchiche
Benoît
B
Schlemmer
Jean-François
JF
Timsit
D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D018447:Medical Futility; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D028761:Withholding Treatment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data