title: Elderly patients are at high risk of night-time admission to the intensive care unit following a rapid response team call.
abstract: Previous studies have shown that elderly patients (age ≥65 years) are less likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit following a rapid response team call and have high hospital mortality rates. This study has shown that elderly patients have a significantly higher probability of being admitted to an intensive care unit following a rapid response team call at night than during the day. However, at no time are they at greater risk than younger patients of incomplete vital sign recording, a failure to escalate care for acute deterioration or mortality.
authors.affiliation: Intensive Care Unit, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.|Discipline of Acute Care Medicine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sundararajan
authors.affiliation: Intensive Care Unit, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.|Discipline of Acute Care Medicine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Flabouris
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of Adelaide and Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Nepean Hospital and Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Seppelt
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D016638:Critical Illness / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D004630:Emergencies / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D057209:Hospital Rapid Response Team / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010360:Patient Transfer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D012151:Resuscitation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: afferent limb failure; circadian rhythm; diurnal variation; intensive care unit; rapid response teams