Outcomes and prognostic factors of decompensated pulmonary hypertension in the intensive care unit

Abstract

BackgroundPatients with acute decompensation of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) have high in-hospital mortality. We hypothesized that pulmonary hypertension (PH) severity, measured by a simplified version of European Society of Cardiology/European Respiratory Society (ESC/ERS) risk assessment, and the severity of organ dysfunction upon ICU admission, measured by sequential organ failure assessment score (SOFA) were associated with in-hospital mortality in decompensated patients with PAH and CTEPH. We also described clinical and laboratory variables during ICU stay. MethodsObservational study including adults with decompensated PAH or CTEPH with unplanned ICU admission between 2014 and 2019. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association of ESC/ERS risk assessment and SOFA score with in-hospital mortality. ESC/ERS risk assessment and SOFA score were included in a decision tree to predict in-hospital mortality. Results73 patients were included. In-hospital mortality was 41.1%. ESC/ERS high-risk group (adjusted odds ratio = 95.52) and SOFA score (adjusted odds ratio = 1.80) were associated with in-hospital mortality. The decision tree identified four groups with in-hospital mortality between 8.1% and 100%. Nonsurvivors had a lower central venous oxygen saturation, higher arterial lactate and higher brain natriuretic peptide in the end of first week in the ICU. ConclusionsHigh-risk on a simplified version of ERS/ESC risk assessment and SOFA score upon ICU admission are associate with in-hospital mortality. A decision tree based on ESC/ERS risk assessment and SOFA score identifies four groups with in-hospital mortality between 8.1% and 100%.