Cancer patients admitted in the intensive care unit: Characteristics and outcomes

Abstract

Objective

The aim of this study was to identify the profile of cancer patients admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) and compares the outcomes with non-cancer patients hospitalized in the same period.

Design

This is a cross-sectional study.

Setting

Data were collected from medical records at Hospital Universitário Santa Terezinha, Joaçaba-SC, Brazil.

Patients

Admitted at ICU from April to November 2018.

Interventions

NA.

Main variables of interest

ICU outcomes.

Results

Of the 183 patients, 92 were cancer patients and 91 were non-cancer patients. There was a predominance of females for cancer and males for non-caner group, mostly elderly. Most hospitalizations of cancer patients were postoperative (49.4%). The cause of hospitalization of non-cancer patients was pneumonia, followed by traumatic brain injury, postoperative period, polytrauma, and septicemia. On the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scale, cancer patients scored an average of 7.8 (±4.2) and on the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Disease Classification System (APACHE II) 13.3 points (±8.6), whereas non-cancer scored 7.6 (±3.55) and 20.9 points (±7.2), respectively. Non-cancer patients used more invasive mechanical ventilation and vasoactive drugs.

Conclusion

Cancer patients received less sedation and used less mechanical ventilation than non-cancer patients. In addition, cancer patients had a lower APACHE II score, denoting a less severe condition. Most surgical cancer patients demonstrate to benefit from intensive care, but it is still necessary to create more specific criteria for ICU admission.