Patient Demographics Associated with ARDS Incidence, Hospital Length of Stay and Mortality

Abstract

Introduction: Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is a common finding among pediatric and adult patient populations [1]. ARDS-related mortality remains high and is associated with prolonged hospital Length of Stay (LOS) and multiple ventilator days. Studies have sought to predict whether certain risk factors can be associated with ARDS development and mortality. It remains to be established whether a strong association exists between ARDS patient demographic characteristics, hospital LOS and overall ARDS-related mortali [4]. Methods: A retrospective analysis of Electronic Health Record (EHR) data identified 595 adult subjects that received an ARDS diagnosis: ICD-9: 518.82, ICD-10: J96.00 or J80 annotation. The analysis spanned a 30-month period, evaluating subjects by age, gender, race, BMI, LOS, and mortality. Results: The majority of subjects were admitted through the Emergency Department (408: 68.6%) and were followed by Internal Medicine (137: 23%) or Trauma service (117: 19.7%). A significant portion of subjects expired (130: 21.8%), but a majority were discharged to home care (212: 35.6%). A binomial logistic regression was performed to identify whether a prevalence or risk ratio could be identified between subject demographics and either LOS or mortality. LOS in days was associated with an increased likelihood of mortality (1.055), and age at admission was associated with a reduction in the likelihood of mortality (0.986). Conclusions: No statistically significant predictor of mortality was identified among subject demographic variables. The findings did suggest that mortality in subjects was higher with longer hospital LOS, lower overall in younger subjects, and inversely related to BMI.