Risk-adjusted Hospital Mortality Research Articles

Telemedicine Critical Care-Mediated Mortality Reductions in Lower-Performing Patient Diagnosis Groups: A Prospective, Before and After Study.

Studies evaluating telemedicine critical care (TCC) have shown mixed results. We prospectively evaluated the impact of TCC implementation on risk-adjusted mortality among patients stratified by pre-TCC performance. Prospective, observational, before and after study. Three adult ICUs at an academic medical center. A total of 2,429 patients in the pre-TCC (January to June 2016) and 12,479 patients in the post-TCC (January 2017 to June 2019) periods. TCC implementation which included an acuity-driven workflow targeting an identified "lower-performing" patient group, defined by ICU admission in an Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation diagnoses category with a pre-TCC standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of greater than 1.5. The primary outcome was risk-adjusted hospital mortality. Risk-adjusted hospital length of stay (HLOS) was also studied. The SMR for the overall ICU population was 0.83 pre-TCC and 0.75 post-TCC, with risk-adjusted mortalities of 10.7% and 9.5% (p = 0.09). In the identified lower-performing patient group, which accounted for 12.6% (n = 307) of pre-TCC and 13.3% (n = 1671) of post-TCC ICU patients, SMR decreased from 1.61 (95% CI, 1.21-2.01) pre-TCC to 1.03 (95% CI, 0.91-1.15) post-TCC, and risk-adjusted mortality decreased from 26.4% to 16.9% (p < 0.001). In the remaining ("higher-performing") patient group, there was no change in pre- versus post-TCC SMR (0.70 [0.59-0.81] vs 0.69 [0.64-0.73]) or risk-adjusted mortality (8.5% vs 8.4%, p = 0.86). There were no pre- to post-TCC differences in standardized HLOS ratio or risk-adjusted HLOS in the overall cohort or either performance group. In well-staffed and overall higher-performing ICUs in an academic medical center, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation granularity allowed identification of a historically lower-performing patient group that experienced a striking TCC-associated reduction in SMR and risk-adjusted mortality. This study provides additional evidence for the relationship between pre-TCC performance and post-TCC improvement.

Early and late withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the United Kingdom: Institutional variation and association with hospital mortality

AimFrequency and timing of Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Treatment (WLST) after Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) vary across Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in the United Kingdom (UK) and may be a marker of lower healthcare quality if instituted too frequently or too early. We aimed to describe WLST practice, quantify its variability across UK ICUs, and assess the effect of institutional deviation from average practice on patients’ risk-adjusted hospital mortality. MethodsWe conducted a retrospective multi-centre cohort study including all adult patients admitted after OHCA to UK ICUs between 2010 and 2017. We identified patient and ICU characteristics associated with early (within 72 h) and late (>72 h) WLST and quantified the between-ICU variation. We used the ICU-level observed-to-expected (O/E) ratios of early and late-WLST frequency as separate metrics of institutional deviation from average practice and calculated their association with patients’ hospital mortality. ResultsWe included 28,438 patients across 204 ICUs. 10,775 (37.9%) had WLST and 6397 (59.4%) of them had early-WLST. Both WLST types were strongly associated with patient-level demographics and pre-existing conditions but weakly with ICU-level characteristics. After adjustment, we found unexplained between-ICU variation for both early-WLST (Median Odds Ratio 1.59, 95%CrI 1.49–1.71) and late-WLST (MOR 1.39, 95%CrI 1.31–1.50). Importantly, patients’ hospital mortality was higher in ICUs with higher O/E ratio of early-WLST (OR 1.29, 95%CI 1.21–1.38, p < 0.001) or late-WLST (OR 1.39, 95%CI 1.31–1.48, p < 0.001). ConclusionsSignificant variability exists between UK ICUs in WLST frequency and timing. This matters because unexplained higher-than-expected WLST frequency is associated with higher hospital mortality independently of timing, potentially signalling prognostic pessimism and lower healthcare quality.

Increasing surgeon experience and cumulative institutional experience drive decreasing hospital mortality after reoperative cardiac surgery

ObjectiveThe study objective was to identify the effects of surgeon experience and age, in the context of cumulative institutional experience, on risk-adjusted hospital mortality after cardiac reoperations. MethodsFrom 1951 to 2020, 36 surgeons performed 160,338 cardiac operations, including 32,871 reoperations. Hospital death was modeled using a novel tree-bagged, generalized varying-coefficient method with 6 variables reflecting cumulative surgeon and institutional experience up to each cardiac operation: (1) number of total and (2) reoperative cardiac operations performed by a surgeon, (3) cumulative institutional number of total and (4) reoperative cardiac operations, (5) year of surgery, and (6) surgeon age at each operation. These were adjusted for 46 patient characteristics and surgical components. ResultsThere were 1470 hospital deaths after cardiac reoperations (4.5%). At the institutional level, hospital death decreased exponentially and became less variable, leveling at 1.2% after approximately 14,000 cardiac reoperations. For all surgeons as a group, hospital death decreased rapidly over the first 750 reoperations and then gradually decreased with increasing experience to less than 1% after approximately 4000 reoperations. Surgeon age up to 75 years was associated with ever-decreasing hospital death. ConclusionsSurgeon age and experience have been implicated in adverse surgical outcomes, particularly after complex cardiac operations, with young surgeons being novices and older surgeons having declining ability. However, at Cleveland Clinic, outcomes of cardiac reoperations improved with increasing primary surgeon experience, without any suggestion to mid-70s of an age cutoff. Patients were protected by the cumulative background of institutional experience that created a culture of safety and teamwork that mitigated adverse events after cardiac surgery.

An observational study on the timing of intubation and outcome in COVID-19 ARDS patients who were treated with high flow nasal oxygen prior to invasive mechanical ventilation: A time series analysis (InOutHFNO trial).

Prolonged high flow nasal oxygen (HFNO) application might delay intubation and increase mortality in acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF) patients. Intubation in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) AHRF (CAHRF) patients 24 to 48 hours after HFNO initiation has been associated with increased mortality in previous studies. This cut-off period is variable in previous studies. A time series analysis could reflect more robust data on outcome in relation to HFNO duration before intubation in CAHRF. A retrospective study was conducted at 30-bedded ICU of a tertiary care teaching hospital from July 2020 to August 2021. The study cohort comprised 116 patients who required HFNO and were subsequently intubated following HFNO failure. A time series analysis of patient outcomes on each day of HFNO application prior to invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) was done. ICU and hospital mortality was 67.2%. Beyond day 4 of HFNO application, there was a trend towards increased risk-adjusted ICU and hospital mortality for each day delay in intubation of CAHRF patients on HFNO [OR 2.718; 95% CI 0.957-7.721; P 0.061]. This trend was maintained till day 8 of HFNO application, after which there was 100% mortality. Taking day four as a cut-off in the timeline of HFNO application, we have observed an absolute mortality benefit of 15% with early intubation despite a higher APACHE-IV score than the late intubation group. IMV beyond the 4th day of HFNO initiation in CAHRF patients increases mortality.

Hospital-level variation in practices and outcomes for patients with severe acute exacerbations of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: a retrospective multicentre cohort study

BackgroundIn the absence of evidence-based strategies to improve patient outcomes, the management of patients with severe idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) exacerbations may vary widely across centres. We assessed between-hospital variation...

Short-term Deaths After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Discharge: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Hospital Risk-Adjusted Mortality

<h2>Abstract</h2><h3>Background</h3> Little is known about patients who die shortly after discharge following any procedures, including percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Our aim was to explore the implications of using 30-day deaths after discharge as part of a quality measure for PCI. <h3>Methods</h3> New York State's PCI registry was used to find PCI deaths that occurred after discharge within 30 days of the procedure from January 1, 2015, to November 30, 2017. Patient risk factors and hospital risk-adjusted 30-day mortality before and after discharge were also investigated. <h3>Results</h3> A total of 2121 (1.55%) patients who underwent PCI died within 30 days of the index procedure, and 730 (34.4%) deaths occurred after discharge, with 30% of deaths after discharge (10% of all deaths) occurring during readmission. Among nonemergency patients, 56% of 30-day deaths occurred after discharge. No risk-adjusted 30-day in-hospital and after-discharge hospital mortality outliers were in common. Only 4 of 10 low outliers and 6 of 10 high outliers for 30-day in-hospital mortality and 30-day total (in-hospital plus after-discharge) mortality were in common. <h3>Conclusions</h3> A large percentage of early deaths after PCI occur after discharge, particularly among lower-risk patients. Future efforts should be focused on monitoring these patients. Hospital risk-adjusted mortality assessments are impacted substantially by inclusion of after-discharge deaths, and decisions about their inclusion will affect quality assessment and public reporting initiatives. The pros and cons of including them should be examined carefully.

266: INTERHOSPITAL TRANSFER TRENDS AMONG ADULT PATIENT WITH SEPSIS IN FLORIDA

Introduction: The interhospital transfer of sepsis patients to better capable hospitals has the potential to improve outcomes but may inadvertently worsen outcomes due to care potential care delays. We sought to determine temporal trends in (i) the prevalence of interhospital transfer among adult patients with sepsis and (ii) hospital mortality among transferred patients with sepsis. Methods: We performed a serial cross-sectional study of adult (≥ 18 years) sepsis hospital encounters between October 2015 and December 2019, using the Florida State In-Patient Databases. Our primary exposure variable was time, based on calendar-year quarters. Our primary outcome was interhospital transfer. Our secondary outcome was hospital mortality among transferred patients. We collected data on age, gender, race, severity of illness (using the Elixhauser comorbidity index), primary insurance payer, median income in Zip code of residence, and rurality of residence. We used multivariable regression models with generalized estimating equations, adjusted for patient demographic and clinical covariates, and with specified Poisson distribution with robust variance estimates, to estimate quarterly risk ratios and adjusted rates for our primary and secondary outcomes. We used the 4th quarter of 2015 as the reference year. Results: Among 480,491 sepsis hospitalizations over the study period, 207,384 (43.2%) were transferred. The demographic and clinical characteristics among transferred patients changed significantly over the study period, with the exception of the Elixhauser comorbidity index. Risk-adjusted rates of interhospital transfer increased over the study period (43.0% in 2016Q1, 47.4% in 2019Q4, average increase 1% per quarter; P for trend <.001). Among transferred patients, risk-adjusted hospital mortality also increased over the study period (2.7% in 2016Q1, 3.9% in 2019Q4, average increase 2.5% per quarter; P for trend .03). Conclusions: Roughly half of adult sepsis encounters in Florida involve interhospital transfer. The rate of transfer of sepsis patients and mortality rates among transferred sepsis patients has increased significantly over time. Comparative studies of the effectiveness of interhospital transfer among sepsis patients are needed to better justify this practice.

Hospital Variation in Mortality and Ventilator Management among Mechanically Ventilated Patients with ARDS.

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is associated with significant mortality. Despite the mortality benefits of lung protective ventilation, adherence rates to evidence-based ventilator practice have remained low and ARDS mortality has remained high. Determine variation in ARDS mortality and adherence to low tidal volume ventilation (LTV) across US hospitals. We identified mechanically ventilated patients with ARDS using data from Philips eICU (2014-2015). We then used multi-variable hierarchical logistic regression models with hospital site as the random effect and patient and hospital level factors as fixed effects to assess the hospital risk adjusted mortality rate and median odds ratio for the association between mortality and hospital site. We then assessed associations between adherence to LTV (defined as 4-8 mL/kg PBW) and hospital risk adjusted mortality rates using Spearman correlation. Among 4441 patients admitted at 110 hospitals with ARDS, the hospital risk-adjusted mortality rate ranged from 19% to 39%, and the MOR for hospital of admission was 1.33 (95% CI 1.25-1.41). Among 3070 patients at 72 hospitals with available ventilator data, 73% of patients had a median set Vt between 4 to 8 mL/kg PBW; hospital adherence rates to LTV ranged from 13% to 95%. There was no association between hospital adherence to LTV and risk-adjusted mortality rate (spearman correlation coefficient -0.01, p = .93). Similarly, among 956 patients who started with a Vt > 8 mL/kg PBW, there was no association between the percent of patients at each hospital whose Vt was decreased to ≤ 8 mL/kg PBW and risk adjusted mortality rate (spearman correlation coefficient .05, p = .73). Risk adjusted mortality and use of LTV for patients with ARDS varied widely across hospitals. However, hospital adherence to LTV was not associated with ARDS mortality rates. Further evaluation of hospital practices associated with lower ARDS mortality are warranted.

The German Quality Network Sepsis: Evaluation of a Quality Collaborative on Decreasing Sepsis-Related Mortality in a Controlled Interrupted Time Series Analysis

BackgroundSepsis is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths in hospitals. This study presents the evaluation of a quality collaborative, which aimed to decrease sepsis-related hospital mortality.MethodsThe German Quality Network Sepsis (GQNS) offers quality reporting based on claims data, peer reviews, and support for establishing continuous quality management and staff education. This study evaluates the effects of participating in the GQNS during the intervention period (April 2016–June 2018) in comparison to a retrospective baseline (January 2014–March 2016). The primary outcome was all-cause risk-adjusted hospital mortality among cases with sepsis. Sepsis was identified by International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes in claims data. A controlled time series analysis was conducted to analyze changes from the baseline to the intervention period comparing GQNS hospitals with the population of all German hospitals assessed via the national diagnosis-related groups (DRGs)-statistics. Tests were conducted using piecewise hierarchical models. Implementation processes and barriers were assessed by surveys of local leaders of quality improvement teams.ResultsSeventy-four hospitals participated, of which 17 were university hospitals and 18 were tertiary care facilities. Observed mortality was 43.5% during baseline period and 42.7% during intervention period. Interrupted time-series analyses did not show effects on course or level of risk-adjusted mortality of cases with sepsis compared to the national DRG-statistics after the beginning of the intervention period (p = 0.632 and p = 0.512, respectively). There was no significant mortality decrease in the subgroups of patients with septic shock or ventilation >24 h or predefined subgroups of hospitals. A standardized survey among 49 local quality improvement leaders in autumn of 2018 revealed that most hospitals did not succeed in implementing a continuous quality management program or relevant measures to improve early recognition and treatment of sepsis. Barriers perceived most commonly were lack of time (77.6%), staff shortage (59.2%), and lack of participation of relevant departments (38.8%).ConclusionAs long as hospital-wide sepsis quality improvement efforts will not become a high priority for the hospital leadership by assuring adequate resources and involvement of all pertinent stakeholders, voluntary initiatives to improve the quality of sepsis care will remain prone to failure.

Variations in COVID-19 Hospital Mortality by Patient Race/Ethnicity and Hospital Type in Illinois.

Background and ObjectivesIt is controversial whether hospital care mitigated or exacerbated population level racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 mortality. To begin answering that question, this study analyzed variations in COVID-19 hospital mortality in Illinois by patient race and ethnicity and by hospital characteristics, while providing an estimate of hospital-level variation in COVID-19 mortality.MethodThis is a retrospective cohort study based on hospital administrative data for adult patients with COVID-19 discharged from acute care, non-federal Illinois hospitals from April 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. The association of patient and hospital characteristics with the likelihood of death was analyzed using multilevel logistic regression.ResultsThere were 158,569 COVID-19-coded admissions to 181 general hospitals in Illinois; 14.5% resulted in death or discharge to hospice. Hospital deaths accounted for nearly 90% of all COVID-19-associated deaths over 15 months in Illinois. After adjusting for patient- and hospital-level characteristics, Hispanic patients had higher mortality risk (aOR 1.26, 95% CI: 1.20–1.33) as compared with non-Hispanic White patients, while non-Hispanic Black patients had lower mortality risk (aOR 0.75, 95% CI: 0.71–0.79). Safety net hospitals receiving disproportionate share hospital (DSH) funds had higher mortality risk (aOR 1.81, 95% CI: 1.43–2.30) compared with other hospitals.ConclusionRisk-adjusted COVID-19 hospital mortality was highest among patients of Hispanic ethnicity, while non-Hispanic Black patients had lower risk than non-Hispanic White patients. There was significant variation in hospital mortality rates, with particularly high safety net hospital mortality.

Effects of post-discharge telemonitoring on 30-day chronic obstructive pulmonary disease readmissions and mortality

Introduction Much attention has been focused on decreasing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) hospital readmissions. The US health system has struggled to meet this goal. The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of telehealth services on the reduction of hospital readmission and mortality rates for COPD. Methods We used a cross-sectional design to examine the association between hospital risk-adjusted readmission and mortality rates for COPD and hospital use of post-discharge telemonitoring (TM). Data for 777 hospitals were sourced from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the American Hospital Association annual surveys. Propensity score matching using the kennel weights method was applied to calculate the weighted probability of being a hospital that offers post-discharge TM services. Results Hospitals with post-discharge TM had about 34% significantly higher odds (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.34; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06–1.70) of 30-day COPD readmission and 33% significantly lower odds (AOR = 0.67; 95% CI 0.50–0.90) of 30-day COPD mortality compared to hospitals without post-discharge TM services. Discussion Overall, hospitals that offer post-discharge TM services have seen an improvement in 30-day COPD mortality rates. However, those same hospitals have also experienced a significant increase in 30-day COPD readmissions. TM can potentially decrease mortality in patients recently admitted for acute exacerbation of COPD. The results provide further evidence that readmissions present a problematic assessment of health-care quality, as the need for readmission may or may not be directly related to the quality of care received while in hospital.

Epidemiology and outcomes of invasive mechanical ventilation without ICU admission in acute care hospitals in Texas: A population-based cohort study.

The high ICU bed capacity in the United States (US) allows ICU care of patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), absent public health crisis. The use of IMV without ICU admission (non-ICU) in acute care hospitals in the US and its impact on patients' outcomes were not examined. A retrospective cohort study was performed using statewide inpatient data in Texas to identify hospitalizations aged ≥18years receiving IMV in acute care hospitals with ICU care capability during January 2014 through September 2015. Use of non-ICU IMV, patient characteristics, and hospital mortality were examined. Among 136,728 IMV hospitalizations, 4531 (3.3%) were non-ICU. As compared to ICU admissions, non-ICU IMV hospitalizations were younger (age 18-44years: 24.9% vs. 17.2%), with lower burden of major comorbidities (no major comorbidity: 24.7% vs. 14.5%), and lower occurrence of non-respiratory organ failures (no non-respiratory organ failure: 32.7% vs. 19.8%). Risk-adjusted hospital mortality of non-ICU vs. ICU IMV hospitalizations was 48.7% (95% CI 48.1-49.4) and 29.9% (95% CI 29.8-30.0), respectively. Non-ICU IMV was provided in 1 in 30 IMV hospitalizations in acute care hospitals. Although non-ICU IMV hospitalizations were younger and healthier than those admitted to ICU, their hospital mortality was markedly higher.

Mortality and complication management after surgery for colorectal cancer depending on the DKG minimum amounts for hospital volume

BackgroundThe German Cancer Society (“Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft”; DKG) certifies on a volunteer base colorectal cancer centers based on, among other things, minimum operative amounts (at least 30 oncological colon cancer resections and 20 oncological rectal cancer resections per year). In this work, nationwide hospital mortality and death after documented complications (‘Failure to Rescue’ = FtR) were evaluated depending on the fulfillment of the minimum amounts. MethodsThis is a retrospective analysis of the nationwide hospital billing data (DRG data, 2012–2017). Categorization is based on the DKG minimum quantities (fully, partially or not fulfilled). ResultsOf 287,227 patients analyzed, 56.5% were operated in centers that met the DKG minimum amounts. The overall hospital mortality rate was 5.0%. In centers which met the minimum quantities, it was significantly lower (4.3%) than in hospitals which partially (5.7%) or not (6.2%) met the minimum quantities. The risk-adjusted hospital mortality rate for patients in hospitals who meet the minimum amount was 20% lower (OR 0.80; 95% CI [0.74–0.87], p < 0.001). For complications, both surgical and non-surgical, there was an unadjusted and adjusted lower FtR in hospitals that met the minimum amounts (e.g. anastomotic leak: 11.2% vs. 15.6%, p < 0.001; pulmonary artery embolism 21.3% vs. 28.2%, p = 0.001). ConclusionThere is a 1/3 lower mortality and FtR rate after surgery for a colon or rectal cancer in centers fulfilling the DKG minimum amounts. The presented data implicate that there is an urgent need for a nationwide centralization program.

Higher ICU Capacity Strain Is Associated With Increased Acute Mortality in Closed ICUs.

To determine whether patients admitted to an ICU during times of strain, when compared with its own norm (i.e. accommodating a greater number of patients, higher acuity of illness, or frequent turnover), is associated with a higher risk of death in ICUs with closed models of intensivist staffing. We conducted a large, multicenter, observational cohort study. Multilevel mixed effects logistic regression was used to examine relationships for three measures of ICU strain (bed census, severity-weighted bed census, and activity-weighted bed census) on the day of admission with risk-adjusted acute hospital mortality. Pooled case mix and outcome database of adult general ICUs participating in the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre Case Mix Programme. The analysis included 149,310 patients admitted to 215 adult general ICUs in 213 hospitals in United Kingdom, Wales, and Northern Ireland. A relative lower strain in ICU capacity as measured by bed census on the calendar day (daytime hours) of admission was associated with decreased risk-adjusted acute hospital mortality (odds ratio, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.90-0.99; p = 0.01), whereas a nonsignificant association was seen between higher strain and increased acute hospital mortality (odds ratio, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.00-1.10; p = 0.07). The relationship between periods of high ICU strain and acute hospital mortality was strongest when bed census was composed of higher acuity patients (odds ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.01-1.10; p = 0.03). No relationship was seen between high strain and ICU mortality. In closed staffing models of care, variations in bed census within individual ICUs was associated with patient's predicted risk of acute hospital mortality, particularly when its standardized bed census consisted of sicker patients.

Variability in usual care fluid resuscitation and risk-adjusted outcomes for mechanically ventilated patients in shock

RationaleThere remains significant controversy regarding the optimal approach to fluid resuscitation for patients in shock. The magnitude of care variability in shock resuscitation, the confounding effects of disease severity and comorbidity, and the relative impact on sepsis survival are poorly understood.ObjectiveTo evaluate usual care variability and determine the differential effect of observed and predicted fluid resuscitation volumes on risk-adjusted hospital mortality for mechanically ventilated patients in shock.MethodsWe performed a retrospective outcome analysis of mechanically ventilated patients admitted to intensive care units using the 2013 Premier Hospital Database (Premier, Inc.). Observed and predicted hospital mortality were evaluated by observed and predicted day 1 fluid administration, using the difference in predicted and observed outcomes to adjust for disease severity between groups. Both predictive models were validated using a second large administrative database (Truven Health Analytics Inc.). Secondary outcomes included duration of mechanical ventilation, hospital and ICU length of stay, and cost.ResultsAmong 33,831 patients, observed hospital mortality was incrementally higher than predicted for each additional liter of day 1 fluid beginning at 7 L (40.9% vs. 37.2%, p = 0.008). Compared to patients that received expected (± 1.5 L predicted) day 1 fluid volumes, greater-than-expected fluid resuscitation was associated with increased risk-adjusted hospital mortality (52.3% vs. 45.0%, p < 0.0001) among all patients with shock and among a subgroup of shock patients with comorbid conditions predictive of lower fluid volume administration (47.1% vs. 41.5%, p < 0.0001). However, in patients with shock but without such conditions, both greater-than-expected (57.5% vs. 49.2%, p < 0.0001) and less-than-expected (52.1% vs. 49.2%, p = 0.037) day 1 fluid resuscitation were associated with increased risk-adjusted hospital mortality.ConclusionsHighly variable day 1 fluid resuscitation was associated with a non-uniform impact on risk-adjusted hospital mortality among distinct subgroups of mechanically ventilated patients with shock. These findings support closer evaluation of fluid resuscitation strategies that include broadly applied fluid volume targets in the early phase of shock resuscitation.

Demographic Shifts, Case Mix, Activity, and Outcome for Elderly Patients Admitted to Adult General ICUs in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Major increases in the proportion of elderly people in the population are predicted worldwide. These population increases, along with improving therapeutic options and more aggressive treatment of elderly patients, will have major impact on the future need for healthcare resources, including critical care. Our objectives were to explore the trends in admissions, resource use, and risk-adjusted hospital mortality for older patients, admitted over a 20-year period between 1997 and 2016 to adult general ICUs in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL CLINICAL AUDIT DATABASE. The Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre Case Mix Programme Database, the national clinical audit for adult general ICUs in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. All adult patients 16 years old or older admitted to adult general ICUs contributing data to the Case Mix Programme Database between January 1, 1997, and December 31, 2016. The annual number, trends, and outcomes for patients across four age bands (16-64, 65-74, 75-84, and 85+ yr) admitted to ICUs contributing to the Case Mix Programme Database from 1997 to 2016 were examined. Case mix, activity, and outcome were described in detail for the most recent cohort of patients admitted in 2015-2016. Between 1997 to 2016, the annual number of admissions to ICU of patients in the older age bands increased disproportionately, with increases that could not be explained solely by general U.K. demographic shifts. The risk-adjusted acute hospital mortality decreased significantly within each age band over the 20-year period of the study. Although acute severity at ICU admission was comparable with that of the younger age group, apart from cardiovascular and renal dysfunction, older patients received less organ support. Older patients stayed longer in hospital post-ICU discharge, and hospital mortality increased with age, but the majority of patients surviving to hospital discharge returned home. Over the past two decades, elderly patients have been more commonly admitted to ICU than can be explained solely by the demographic shift. Importantly, as with the wider population, outcomes in elderly patients admitted to ICU are improving over time, with most patients returning home.

Out-of-Hospital 30-day Deaths After Cardiac Surgery Are Often Underreported

Operative mortality (in-hospital during the index admission or within 30 days of the procedure after discharge) is commonly used as a quality of care measure for public reporting of cardiac surgery outcomes, but the ability to capture out-of-hospital deaths accurately remains undetermined. The objective of the study was to estimate the impact of incomplete reporting of out-of-hospital deaths on hospital risk-adjusted mortality and outlier status. New York State's 2014 to 2016 cardiac registry data were used to compare the capture of 30-day postprocedure deaths after discharge with and without the use of national and state-level vital statistics data for all 54,442 patients undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass graft, cardiac valve surgery, or both. Hospital risk-adjusted operative mortality rates and mortality outliers were compared based on statistical models that were developed with and without the use of vital statistics data. Thirty-day deaths postprocedure after discharge ranged from 10% to 39% of all operative deaths among cardiac surgical procedures. More than 30% ofthese deaths were missing without vital statistics confirmation for 7 of the 10 cardiac procedures examined, andmore than 40% were missing for 5 of the procedures examined. When vital statistics data were used to confirm 30-day postprocedure deaths after discharge, an additional high outlier for valve surgery was identified. Operative mortality after cardiac surgery is often underreported owing to a considerable percentage of out-of-hospital cardiac surgery deaths that are missed by reporting centers. This can adversely affect the assessment of hospital risk-adjusted mortality in public reports.

Changes in comorbidities, diagnoses, therapies and outcomes in a contemporary cardiac intensive care unit population

We retrospectively reviewed unique CICU admissions at the Mayo Clinic from January 2007 to April 2018. Comorbidities, severity of illness scores, discharge diagnosis codes and CICU procedures and therapies were recorded, and temporal trends were assessed using linear regression and Cochran-Armitage trend tests. Trends in adjusted hospital mortality over time were assessed using multivariable logistic regression. We included 12,418 patients with a mean age of 67.6 years (including 37.7% females). Temporal trends in the prevalence of several comorbidities and discharge diagnoses were observed, reflecting an increase in the prevalence of non-coronary cardiovascular diseases, critical care diagnoses, and organ failure (all P ≪ .05). The use of several CICU therapies and procedures increased over time, including mechanical ventilation, invasive lines and vasoactive drugs (all P ≪ .05). A temporal decrease in adjusted hospital mortality was observed among the subgroup of patients with (adjusted OR per year 0.97, 95% CI 0.94-0.99, P = .023) and without (adjusted OR per year 0.91, 95% CI 0.85-0.96, P = .002) a critical care discharge diagnosis. We observed an increasing prevalence of critical care and organ failure diagnoses as well as increased utilization of critical care therapies in this CICU cohort, associated with a decrease in risk-adjusted hospital mortality over time.

Top-tier emergency general surgery hospitals: Good at one operation, good at them all.

There is a longstanding interest in the field of management science to study high performance organizations. Applied to medicine, research on hospital performance indicates that some hospitals are high performing, while others are not. The objective of this study was to identify a cluster of high-performing emergency general surgery (EGS) hospitals and assess whether high performance at one EGS operation was associated with high performance on all EGS operations. Adult patients who underwent one of eight EGS operations were identified in the California State Inpatient Database (2010-2011), which we linked to the American Hospital Association database. Beta regression was used to estimate a hospital's risk-adjusted mortality, accounting for patient- and hospital-level factors. Centroid cluster analysis grouped hospitals by patterns of mortality rates across the eight EGS operations using z scores. Multinomial logistic regression compared hospital characteristics by cluster. A total of 220 acute care hospitals were included. Three distinct clusters of hospitals were defined based on assessment of mortality for each operation type: high-performing hospitals (n = 66), average performing (n = 99), and low performing (n = 55). The mortality by individual operation type at the high-performing cluster was consistently at least 1.5 standard deviations better than the low-performing cluster (p < 0.001). Within-cluster variation was minimal at high-performing hospitals compared with wide variation at low-performing hospitals. A hospital's high performance in one EGS operation type predicted high performance on all EGS operation types. High-performing EGS hospitals attain excellence across all types of EGS operations, with minimal variability in mortality. Poor-performing hospitals are persistently below average, even for low-risk operations. These findings suggest that top-performing EGS hospitals are highly reliable, with systems of care in place to achieve consistently superior results. Further investigation and collaboration are needed to identify the factors associated with high performance. Prognostic, level III.

Hospital Mechanical Ventilation Volume and Patient Outcomes: Too Much of a Good Thing?

Prior studies investigating hospital mechanical ventilation volume-outcome associations have had conflicting findings. Volume-outcome relationships within contemporary mechanical ventilation practices are unclear. We sought to determine associations between hospital mechanical ventilation volume and patient outcomes. Retrospective cohort study. The California Patient Discharge Database 2016. Adult nonsurgical patients receiving mechanical ventilation. The primary outcome was hospital death with secondary outcomes of tracheostomy and 30-day readmission. We used multivariable generalized estimating equations to determine the association between patient outcomes and hospital mechanical ventilation volume quartile. We identified 51,689 patients across 274 hospitals who required mechanical ventilation in California in 2016. 38.2% of patients died in the hospital with 4.4% receiving a tracheostomy. Among survivors, 29.5% required readmission within 30 days of discharge. Patients admitted to high versus low volume hospitals had higher odds of death (quartile 4 vs quartile 1 adjusted odds ratio, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.17-1.68) and tracheostomy (quartile 4 vs quartile 1 adjusted odds ratio, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.21-2.06). However, odds of 30-day readmission among survivors was lower at high versus low volume hospitals (quartile 4 vs quartile 1 adjusted odds ratio, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.67-0.89). Higher hospital mechanical ventilation volume was weakly correlated with higher hospital risk-adjusted mortality rates (ρ = 0.16; p = 0.008). These moderately strong observations were supported by multiple sensitivity analyses. Contrary to previous studies, we observed worse patient outcomes at higher mechanical ventilation volume hospitals. In the setting of increasing use of mechanical ventilation and changes in mechanical ventilation practices, multiple mechanisms of worse outcomes including resource strain are possible. Future studies investigating differences in processes of care between high and low volume hospitals are necessary.