Are Intensive Care and Dementia Incompatible

Abstract

Dementia is an increasingly relevant, recurrent, ethical and clinical challenge in contemporary medicine. The present study aimed to assess whether admission of these patients in intensive care units (ICU) should be considered or excluded. Clinicians (internists, intensivists and neurologists) were asked to answer this question, and also to rank the criteria they considered most relevant in refusing admission to an ICU. For most doctors, dementia per se does not preclude admission in ICU. Functional reserve and degree of disability were the most important factors, followed by cognitive impairment and comorbidities. Family expectations and age were the least important variables when considering admission.