Unit Discharge Research Articles

Memories of patients after discharge of intensive care unit (ICU): a systematic review

Memories of patients after discharge of intensive care unit (ICU): a systematic review

Severe COVID-19 infection: An institutional review and literature overview.

Our study aimed to describe the group of severe COVID-19 patients at an institutional level, and determine factors associated with different outcomes. A retrospective chart review of patients admitted with severe acute hypoxic respiratory failure due to COVID-19 infection. Based on outcomes, we categorized 3 groups of severe COVID-19: (1) Favorable outcome: progressive care unit admission and discharge (2) Intermediate outcome: ICU care (3) Poor outcome: in-hospital mortality. Eighty-nine patients met our inclusion criteria; 42.7% were female. The average age was 59.7 (standard deviation (SD):13.7). Most of the population were Caucasian (95.5%) and non-Hispanic (91.0%). Age, sex, race, and ethnicity were similar between outcome groups. Medicare and Medicaid patients accounted for 62.9%. The average BMI was 33.5 (SD:8.2). Moderate comorbidity was observed, with an average Charlson Comorbidity index (CCI) of 3.8 (SD:2.6). There were no differences in the average CCI between groups(p = 0.291). Many patients (67.4%) had hypertension, diabetes (42.7%) and chronic lung disease (32.6%). A statistical difference was found when chronic lung disease was evaluated; p = 0.002. The prevalence of chronic lung disease was 19.6%, 27.8%, and 40% in the favorable, intermediate, and poor outcome groups, respectively. Smoking history was associated with poor outcomes (p = 0.04). Only 7.9% were fully vaccinated. Almost half (46.1%) were intubated and mechanically ventilated. Patients spent an average of 12.1 days ventilated (SD:8.5), with an average of 6.0 days from admission to ventilation (SD:5.1). The intermediate group had a shorter average interval from admission to ventilator (77.2 hours, SD:67.6), than the poor group (212.8 hours, SD:126.8); (p = 0.001). The presence of bacterial pneumonia was greatest in the intermediate group (72.2%), compared to the favorable group (17.4%), and the poor group (56%); this was significant (p<0.0001). In-hospital mortality was seen in 28.1%. Most patients were male, obese, had moderate-level comorbidity, a history of tobacco abuse, and government-funded insurance. Nearly 50% required mechanical ventilation, and about 28% died during hospitalization. Bacterial pneumonia was most prevalent in intubated groups. Patients who were intubated with a good outcome were intubated earlier during their hospital course, with an average difference of 135.6 hours. A history of cigarette smoking and chronic lung disease were associated with poor outcomes.

Unmasking the hidden aftermath: postintensive care unit sequelae, discharge preparedness, and long-term follow-up.

A significant portion of individuals who have experienced critical illness encounter new or exacerbated impairments in their physical, cognitive, or mental health, commonly referred to as postintensive care syndrome. Moreover, those who survive critical illness often face an increased risk of adverse consequences, including infections, major cardiovascular events, readmissions, and elevated mortality rates, during the months following hospitalization. These findings emphasize the critical necessity for effective prevention and management of long-term health deterioration in the critical care environment. Although conclusive evidence from well-designed randomized clinical trials is somewhat limited, potential interventions include strategies such as limiting sedation, early mobilization, maintaining family presence during the intensive care unit stay, implementing multicomponent transition programs (from intensive care unit to ward and from hospital to home), and offering specialized posthospital discharge follow-up. This review seeks to provide a concise summary of recent medical literature concerning long-term outcomes following critical illness and highlight potential approaches for preventing and addressing health decline in critical care survivors.

Prediction of Dexterous Finger Forces with Forearm Rotation using Motoneuron Discharges.

Motor unit (MU) discharge information obtained via electromyogram (EMG) decomposition can be used to decode dexterous multi-finger movement intention for neural-machine interfaces (NMI). However, the variation of the motor unit action potential (MUAP) shape resulted from forearm rotation leads to the decreased performance of EMG decomposition, especially under the real-time condition and then the degradation of motion decoding accuracy. The object of this study was to develop a method to realize the accurate extraction of MU discharge information across forearm pronated/supinated positions in the real-time condition for dexterous multi-finger force prediction. The FastICA-based EMG decomposition technique was used and the proposed method obtained multiple separation vectors for each MU at different forearm positions in the initialization phase. Under the real-time condition, the MU discharge information was extracted adaptively using the separation vector extracted at the nearest forearm position. As comparison, the previous method that utilized a single constant separation vector to extract MU discharges across forearm positions and the conventional method that utilized the EMG amplitude information were also performed. The results showed that the proposed method obtained a significantly better performance compared with the other two methods, manifested in a larger coefficient of determination (R2) and a smaller root mean squared error (RMSE) between the predicted and recorded force. Our results demonstrated the feasibility and the effectiveness of the proposed method to extract MU discharge information during forearm rotation for dexterous force prediction under the real-time conditions. Further development of the proposed method could potentially promote the application of the EMG decomposition technique for continuous dexterous motion decoding in a realistic NMI application scenario.

Comparing demographics, treatments, and outcomes of patients with COVID-19 lesions versus hospital-acquired pressure ulcers/injuries during the first year of COVID-19.

As COVID-19 has emerged as a pandemic virus, multiple reports have surfaced to describe skin lesions that occur either associated with the virus or due to treatment. To compare patient demographics, treatments, and outcomes in COVID-19 symptomatic patients who developed skin lesions (COVID-19 or hospital-acquired pressure ulcer/injury [HAPU/I]) during the first year of the pandemic. A retrospective chart review was conducted on COVID-positive symptomatic patients admitted from March 1, 2020, through March 1, 2021. The authors analyzed the difference in patient demographics, patient skin tones, treatments, hospital length of stay (LOS), intensive care unit (ICU) LOS, death, and discharge disposition for those with COVID-19 lesions compared to those who developed HAPU/Is. Of those who developed lesions, 2.3% developed COVID-19 lesions and 7.2% developed HAPU/Is. Patients with COVID-19 lesions were more likely to be male (64%), younger (median age 60), and had a higher BMI (30) than patients with no wounds and patients with HAPU/I. This study advances the knowledge of the patient demographics and treatments that may contribute to identifying the new phenomenon of COVID lesions and how they differ from HAPU/Is.

Survey of sensory impairment in critically ill patients after intensive care unit discharge: An ambidirectional cohort study

BackgroundSensory impairment affects the quality of life after intensive care. However, no studies have comprehensively examined sensory impairment after intensive care. ObjectivesThis study aimed to investigate sensory impairment in critically ill patients. MethodsThis ambidirectional cohort study was conducted in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a university hospital between April 2017 and January 2020. Patients who survived despite invasive mechanical ventilation for >48 h, with a discharge period of >6 months, participated in the study. A questionnaire was sent to consenting patients to investigate the presence or absence of sensory impairment at that time, and treatment-related data were collected from their medical records. ResultsOf 75 eligible patients, 62 responded to our survey. Twenty-seven (43.6%) patients had some sensory impairment. Nine (14.5%) patients had chronic pain after ICU discharge, 4 (6.5%) had chronic pain and visual impairment, 3 (4.8%) had visual impairment only, and 3 (4.8%) had chronic pain and taste impairment. The most common overlapping symptom was a combination of chronic pain. ConclusionsCritically ill patients who survived and were discharged from the ICU accounted for 43.6% of patients with complaints of sensory impairment in the chronic phase. The results of this study suggest the need for follow-up and treatment of possible sensory impairment following ICU discharge.

A comprehensive physical functional assessment of survivors of critical care unit stay due to COVID-19.

To examine the physical function and respiratory muscle strength of patients - who recovered from critical COVID-19 - after intensive care unit discharge to the ward on Days one (D1) and seven (D7), and to investigate variables associated with functional impairment. This was a prospective cohort study of adult patients with COVID-19 who needed invasive mechanical ventilation, non-invasive ventilation or high-flow nasal cannula and were discharged from the intensive care unit to the ward. Participants were submitted to Medical Research Council sum-score, handgrip strength, maximal inspiratory pressure, maximal expiratory pressure, and short physical performance battery tests. Participants were grouped into two groups according to their need for invasive ventilation: the Invasive Mechanical Ventilation Group (IMV Group) and the Non-Invasive Mechanical Ventilation Group (Non-IMV Group). Patients in the IMV Group (n = 31) were younger and had higher Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores than those in the Non-IMV Group (n = 33). The short physical performance battery scores (range 0 - 12) on D1 and D7 were 6.1 ± 4.3 and 7.3 ± 3.8, respectively for the Non-Invasive Mechanical Ventilation Group, and 1.3 ± 2.5 and 2.6 ± 3.7, respectively for the IMV Group. The prevalence of intensive care unit-acquired weakness on D7 was 13% for the Non-IMV Group and 72% for the IMV Group. The maximal inspiratory pressure, maximal expiratory pressure, and handgrip strength increased on D7 in both groups, but the maximal expiratory pressure and handgrip strength were still weak. Only maximal inspiratory pressure was recovered (i.e., > 80% of the predicted value) in the Non-IMV Group. Female sex, and the need and duration of invasive mechanical were independently and negatively associated with the short physical performance battery score and handgrip strength. Patients who recovered from critical COVID-19 and who received invasive mechanical ventilation presented greater disability than those who were not invasively ventilated. However, they both showed marginal functional improvement during early recovery, regardless of the need for invasive mechanical ventilation. This might highlight the severity of disability caused by SARS-CoV-2.

Neuromyotonia.

Neuromyotonia is continuous peripheral nerve hyper-excitability manifesting in muscle twitching at rest (myokymia), inducible cramps and impaired muscle relaxation, and characterized by EMG findings of spontaneous single motor unit discharges (with doublet, triplet, or multiplet morphology). The disorder may be genetic, acquired, and often in the acquired cases autoimmune. This chapter focuses on autoimmune acquired causes. Autoimmune associations include mainly contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CASPR2) antibody-associated disease (previously termed as VGKC or voltage-gated potassium channel antibody-associated neuromyotonia) (van Sonderen et al., 2016, p. 2), leucine-rich glioma-inactivated 1 (LGI1) antibody disease, the Guillain-Barré syndrome, NMDAR encephalitis (Varley et al., 2019), and IgLON5 (Gaig et al., 2021) disease. Nonimmune associations include radiation-induced plexopathy. An association with myasthenia gravis and other autoimmune disorders, response to plasma exchange (Newsom-Davis and Mills, 1993) and physiologically induced changes in mice injected with patient-derived immunoglobulins led to the discovery of autoantibodies to juxtaparanodal proteins complexed with potassium channels (Shillito et al., 1995). The target of the antibodies is most commonly the CASPR2 protein. The disorder may be paraneoplastic, and a search for and treatment of an underlying tumor is a necessary step. In cases in which there is evidence for an immune cause, then immune suppression, with an emerging role for B cell-depleting therapies, is associated with a good clinical outcome. In parallel, sodium channel blocking drugs remain effective symptomatic therapies.

Influence of obesity on mortality, mechanical ventilation time and mobility of critical patients with COVID-19.

To identify the influence of obesity on mortality, time to weaning from mechanical ventilation and mobility at intensive care unit discharge in patients with COVID-19. This retrospective cohort study was carried out between March and August 2020. All adult patients admitted to the intensive care unit in need of ventilatory support and confirmed to have COVID-19 were included. The outcomes included mortality, time on mechanical ventilation, and mobility at intensive care unit discharge. Four hundred and twenty-nine patients were included, 36.6% of whom were overweight and 43.8% of whom were obese. Compared with normal body mass index patients, overweight and obese patients had lower mortality (p = 0.002) and longer intensive care unit survival (log-rank p < 0.001). Compared with patients with a normal body mass index, overweight patients had a 36% lower risk of death (p = 0.04), while patients with obesity presented a 23% lower risk (p < 0.001). There was no association between obesity and time on mechanical ventilation. The level of mobility at intensive care unit discharge did not differ between groups and showed a moderate inverse correlation with length of stay in the intensive care unit (r = -0.461; p < 0.001). Overweight and obese patients had lower mortality and higher intensive care unit survival rates. The duration of mechanical ventilation and mobility level at intensive care unit discharge did not differ between the groups.

Effects of Alaska Pollack Protein Ingestion on Neuromuscular Adaptation in Young Healthy Adults: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

Alaska pollack protein (APP), has been reported as a protein source that can enhance muscle hypertrophy more than other protein sources in animal studies. This study aimed to examine the effects of APP ingestion on muscle quantity and quality in young adults. Fifty-five young college students were assigned to two groups: APP and placebo (whey protein: WP) groups, and instructed to ingest 4.5 g of each protein in addition to daily meals, and to maintain their usual daily physical activities for 3 mo. Twenty-one and 23 students completed the intervention and were analyzed in APP and WP groups, respectively. The maximum knee extension torque significantly increased in both groups during the intervention. The motor unit discharge rate, which is an indicator of activation, for a given force level significantly decreased in both groups during the intervention, but its decrease in the APP group was significantly greater than in the WP group. Echo intensity of the vastus lateralis evaluated by ultrasound images significantly decreased in both groups. The muscle thickness and skeletal muscle mass did not change. Small amount of additional APP intake induces greater effects on neural activation than WP, suggesting the greater neural economy of generation of force.

İnce Kenarlı Savaklardaki Havalandırma Verimliliğinin Deneysel Olarak İncelenmesi: Debi Etkisi

In this experimental study, the aeration performance of weirs was investigated by means of the discharge effect. For this purpose, experiments were performed at a 90º V-notch weir with drop heights ranging from 0.35-0.535 m and unit discharges ranging from 3x10-2 to 6.33x10-2 m2/s and E20 varied in the range of 0.13-0.23. A positive correlation was found between the unit discharge and aeration efficiency and the resulting relationship was defined by a power function in terms of drop height and unit discharge. It was found that aeration efficiency is in proportion to the 3/4 power of drop height and 1/3 power of unit discharge. The proposed empirical formula prediction capacity has been compared with the other empirical formulas in terms of their average relative error values. Additionally, by assuming a drop height equal to head loss, it was observed that hydraulic jump aeration efficiency dependence on head loss continued for weirs indicating the free-surface macro turbulence's main role in the process.

Assessment of Nursing Workload and Adverse Events Reporting among Critical Care Nurses in the United Arab Emirates

Background: Nursing is a demanding job, and excessive workloads have been demonstrated to negatively impact patient care. This study aimed to determine the associations between nursing workload on the days of intensive care unit (ICU) admission and discharge and adverse events among patients (i.e. ICU readmission and medication errors). Methods: This study used a retrospective cohort design. We reviewed medical records for 270 patients admitted to the ICU from three hospitals in the United Arab Emirates between February and April 2023. Collected data included patients’ demographics, diagnosis, acuity score on ICU admission/discharge days, Nursing Activities Score (NAS) on ICU admission/discharge days and adverse events reported (i.e. occurrence of medication errors and re-admission to ICU after discharge). Results: The nursing workload on ICU admission and discharge days was high (NAS=72.61 and NAS=52.61, respectively). There were significant associations between ICU readmission and nursing workload at ICU admission and discharge. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between the occurrence of medication errors and nursing workload on the day of ICU admission, with more medication errors occurring in patients with higher NAS scores. Conclusion: The complexity of nursing activities and the severity of patients’ conditions directly impact the nursing workload and patient outcomes. A practical strategy to reduce the nursing workload may be calculating the NAS to clarify the actual time spent by nurses to provide the required care based on the patient’s condition. Adoption of new technologies to enhance medication safety and minimise errors may be another strategy to reduce the impact of the high nursing workload in ICU settings.

Human Milk Fortifier After Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Discharge Improves Human Milk Usage Rates for Preterm Infants

BackgroundA common neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) discharge feeding strategy for preterm infants with growth failure who are fed exclusively expressed human milk (EHM) has been to enrich mother’s own milk with formula powder or supplement 2–3 feeds per day with formula. However, this strategy displaces human milk from the diet. Our NICU recently adopted the standard practice of adding commercial human milk fortifier (HMF) to human milk feedings after discharge. ObjectivesWe aimed to compare breastfeeding rates and growth using the aforementioned 2 strategies. MethodsPreterm infants (<34 wk of gestation at birth) exclusively feeding EHM fortified with HMF at 2 weeks before discharge were included in this retrospective study. The HMF group (n = 92) continued fortifying with HMF at home, whereas the historical comparison group (n = 35) received our previous guidance to enrich or supplement using postdischarge formula. ResultsRates of human milk exclusivity after discharge decreased significantly less in the HMF group than those in the historical comparison group (to 83% compared with 39% at the first outpatient visit and 27% compared with 6%, respectively, at the second outpatient visit). Rates of any EHM feedings were also significantly higher in the HMF group. Fenton z-scores for weight, length, and head circumference were not significantly different between the groups. ConclusionsContinuing EHM fortification with HMF after NICU discharge, rather than enriching or supplementing with postdischarge infant formula, increases rates of feeding EHM for ≥3 mo but does not affect growth.

A biosignal quality assessment framework for high-density sEMG decomposition

Surface electromyography (sEMG) signal is superimposed by hundreds of motor unit (MU) discharge waveforms during muscle contraction. With the development of high-density sEMG (HD-sEMG) acquisition techniques, exploring the motoneuron discharge events, which is called sEMG decomposition, has shown advantages over traditional analysis. However, experimentally recorded HD-sEMG signals are nonetheless inevitably contaminated by several kinds of noise, including baseline noise (BLN), electrocardiogram interference (ECI), powerline noise (PLN), and white Gaussian noise (WGN). These noises directly degrade the signal quality and affect the performance of decomposition, but the effect of noise type on the performance of sEMG decomposition remains to be determined. To evaluate the impact of noise, this paper presents a biosignal quality assessment framework for HD-sEMG decomposition. Firstly, the four most prominent types of noise were analyzed via simulation modeling and experimental verification. The results showed that WGN was the dominant noise factor influencing sEMG decomposition, while the other types of noise had no significant influence. Secondly, a signal-to-white Gaussian noise ratio (SWGR) estimation method based on canonical correlation analysis (CCA) was proposed, and SWGR was further used as a metric to evaluate the biosignal quality for HD-sEMG decomposition. The experimental results indicated that SWGR accurately (R2≥0.72 for decomposed MU number) reflected the performance of the sEMG decomposition. The outcomes provide guidance for the preprocessing of HD-sEMG with regard to decomposing MU discharge, potentially paving the way for a non-invasive neural interface.

Motoneuron-driven computational muscle modelling with motor unit resolution and subject-specific musculoskeletal anatomy.

The computational simulation of human voluntary muscle contraction is possible with EMG-driven Hill-type models of whole muscles. Despite impactful applications in numerous fields, the neuromechanical information and the physiological accuracy such models provide remain limited because of multiscale simplifications that limit comprehensive description of muscle internal dynamics during contraction. We addressed this limitation by developing a novel motoneuron-driven neuromuscular model, that describes the force-generating dynamics of a population of individual motor units, each of which was described with a Hill-type actuator and controlled by a dedicated experimentally derived motoneuronal control. In forward simulation of human voluntary muscle contraction, the model transforms a vector of motoneuron spike trains decoded from high-density EMG signals into a vector of motor unit forces that sum into the predicted whole muscle force. The motoneuronal control provides comprehensive and separate descriptions of the dynamics of motor unit recruitment and discharge and decodes the subject's intention. The neuromuscular model is subject-specific, muscle-specific, includes an advanced and physiological description of motor unit activation dynamics, and is validated against an experimental muscle force. Accurate force predictions were obtained when the vector of experimental neural controls was representative of the discharge activity of the complete motor unit pool. This was achieved with large and dense grids of EMG electrodes during medium-force contractions or with computational methods that physiologically estimate the discharge activity of the motor units that were not identified experimentally. This neuromuscular model advances the state-of-the-art of neuromuscular modelling, bringing together the fields of motor control and musculoskeletal modelling, and finding applications in neuromuscular control and human-machine interfacing research.

The neural control of movement: a century of in vivo motor unit recordings is the legacy of Adrian and Bronk.

In two papers dated 1928 to 1929 in The Journal of Physiology, Edgar Adrian and Detlev Bronk described recordings from motor nerve and muscle fibres. The recordings from motor nerve fibres required progressive dissection of the nerve until a few fibres remained, from which isolated single fibre activity could be detected. The muscle fibre recordings were performed in humans during voluntary contractions with an intramuscular electrode - the concentric needle electrode - that they describe for the first time in the second paper. They recognised that muscle fibres would respond to each impulse sent by the innervating motor neurone and that therefore muscle fibre recordings provided information on the times of activation of the motor nerve fibres which were as accurate as a direct record from the nerve. These observations and the description of the concentric needle electrode opened the era of motor unit recordings in humans, which have continued for almost a century and have provided a comprehensive view of the neural control of movement at the motor unit level. Despite important advances in technology, many of the principles of motor unit behaviour that would be investigated in the subsequent decades were canvassed in the two papers by Adrian and Bronk. For example, they described the concomitant motor neurones' recruitment and rate coding for force modulation, synchronisation of motor unit discharges, and the dependence of discharge rate on motor unit recruitment threshold. Here, we summarise their observations and discuss the impact of their work. We highlight the advent of the concentric needle, and its subsequent influence on motor control research.

Functional force stimulation alters motor neuron discharge patterns.

Beneficial effects have been observed for mechanical vibration stimulation (MVS), which are mainly attributed to tonic vibration reflex (TVR). TVR is reported to elicit synchronized motor unit activation during locally applied vibration. Similar effects are also observed in a novel vibration system referred to as functional force stimulation (FFS). However, the manifestation of TVR in FFS is doubted due to the use of global electromyography (EMG) features in previous analysis. Our study aims to investigate the effects of FFS on motor unit discharge patterns of the human biceps brachii by analyzing the motor unit spike trains decoded from the high-density surface EMG. Eighteen healthy subjects volunteered in FFS training with different amplitudes and frequencies. One hundred and twenty-eight channel surface EMG was recorded from the biceps brachii and then decoded after motion-artifact removal. The discharge timings were extracted and the coherence between different motor unit spike trains was calculated to quantify synchronized activation. Significant synchronization within the vibration cycle and/or its integer multiples is observed for all FFS trials, which increases with increased FFS amplitude. Our results reveal the basic physiological mechanism involved in FFS, providing a theoretical foundation for analyzing and introducing FFS into clinical rehabilitation programs.

Clinical phenotypes of cardiogenic shock survivors: insights into late host responses and long-term outcomes.

An elevated risk of adverse events persists for years in cardiogenic shock (CS) survivors with high mortality rate and physical/mental disability. This study aims to link clinical CS-survivor phenotypes with distinct late host-response patterns at intensive care unit (ICU) discharge and long-term outcomes using model-based clustering. In the original prospective, observational, international French and European Outcome Registry in Intensive Care Units (FROG-ICU) study, ICU patients with CS on admission were identified (N=228). Among them, 173 were discharged alive from the ICU and included in the current study. Latent class analysis was applied to identify distinct CS-survivor phenotypes at ICU discharge using 15 readily available clinical and laboratory variables. The primary endpoint was 1year of mortality after ICU discharge. Secondary endpoints were readmission and physical/mental disability [short form-36 questionnaire (SF-36) score] within 1year after ICU discharge. Two distinct phenotypes at ICU discharge were identified (A and B). Patients in Phenotype B (38%) were more anaemic and had higher circulating levels of lactate, sustained kidney injury, and persistent elevation in plasma markers of inflammation, myocardial fibrosis, and endothelial dysfunction compared with Phenotype A. They had also a higher rate of non-ischaemic origin of CS and right ventricular dysfunction on admission. CS survivors in Phenotype B had higher 1year of mortality compared with Phenotype A (P=0.045, Kaplan-Meier analysis). When adjusted for traditional risk factors (i.e. age, severity of illness, and duration of ICU stay), Phenotype B was independently associated with 1year of mortality [adjusted hazard ratio=2.83 (95% confidence interval 1.21-6.60); P=0.016]. There was a significantly lower physical quality of life in Phenotype B patients at 3months (i.e. SF-36 physical component score). A phenotype with sustained inflammation, myocardial fibrosis, and endothelial dysfunction at ICU discharge was identified from readily available data and was independently associated with poor long-term outcomes in CS survivors.

Prognostic Factors of Survival in Veno-Arterial ECMO Patients: A Multivariable Logistic Regression Analysis

Background: Several models exist to predict mortality in patients on Veno-arterial (VA) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Whether expanded demographic data points have prognostic implications is less understood. This study assessed the prognostic value of demographics in patients on VA-ECMO. Methods: This retrospective cohort study investigated 410 patients who received VA-ECMO. Survival to hospital discharge, survival to intensive care unit discharge and survival to ECMO explantation were examined. A multivariable logistic regression was performed incorporating 11 demographic variables. Results: 44% (181/410) of patients survived to ECMO explant, 37% (152/410) of patients survived to ICU discharge, and 36% (146/410) of patients survived to hospital discharge. There was an increase in odds of survival to hospital discharge in patients who were less than 55 years old (Odds Ratio (OR) = 3.91 [95% Confidence Interval (CI) 2.35-6.49]). There was a decrease in odds of survival to hospital discharge in patients who had a prior cardiac arrest (OR = 0.35 [95% CI 0.20-0.63]). Patients who survived to hospital discharge less frequently had a history of smoking (51% vs 65%, respectively; p=0.008), and were younger compared to those who did not survive (51.4+/- 14.03 vs 57.3+/- 16.54). Conclusion: Age less than 55 years old was a prognostic indicator of survival to hospital discharge following VA-ECMO, while history of smoking, history of dialysis, and history of cardiac arrest were associated with mortality. Sex, BMI, atrial fibrillation, hypertension, DM, and COPD were not significant indicators. These data may help guide optimal patient selection for VA-ECMO support.

Damage Curves Derived from Hurricane Ike in the West of Galveston Bay Based on Insurance Claims and Hydrodynamic Simulations

Hurricane Ike, which struck the United States in September 2008, was the ninth most expensive hurricane in terms of damages. It caused nearly USD 30 billion in damage after making landfall on the Bolivar Peninsula, Texas. We used the Delft3d-FM/SWAN hydrodynamic and spectral wave model to simulate the storm surge inundation around Galveston Bay during Hurricane Ike. Damage curves were established through the relationship between eight hydrodynamic parameters (water depth, flow velocity, unit discharge, flow momentum flux, significant wave height, wave energy flux, total water depth (flow depth plus wave height), and total (flow plus wave) force) simulated by the model and National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) insurance damage data. The NFIP insurance database contains a large amount of building damage data, building stories, and elevation, as well as other information from the Ike event. We found that the damage curves are sensitive to the model grid resolution, building elevation, and the number of stories. We also found that the resulting damage functions are steeper than those developed for residential structures in many other locations.