Impact of spirituality on mortality of patients admitted to the intensive care unit

Abstract

The conceptual heterogeneity of spirituality has been widely recognized and, for some authors, spirituality does not have a clear definition, being the term used imprecisely and inconsistently, varying according to religion, culture and time and therefore difficult to measure. The theme is so relevant that the Department of Spirituality and Cardiovascular Medicine of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology elaborated and published a Position on arterial hypertension and spirituality – 2021, making it clear that the realization of the spiritual anamnesis is fundamental. We evaluated 200 patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) due to clinical pathologies that were lucid and conscious. Because there is no single and established methodology, it was decided to elaborate a score of easy applicability in the patients evaluated by this group to classify the patient as spiritualized or non-spiritualized. Before classifying them as spiritual or not, the risk of mortality in this hospitalization was calculated through the Simplified Acute Physiology Score III (SAPS 3). The 200 patients had a predictive score of death around 20% (18.5% to 21%). Through this sample, it is concluded that the existence of faith and the presence of active spirituality of these patients was one of the factors for the reduction of mortality during their hospitalization during the period in which they remained in the ICU. Another highlight was the lower mortality in women, especially in the non-spiritual group (2.5 times lower). The length of ICU stay did not vary significantly between groups.