Cancer patients admitted in the intensive care unit: Characteristics and outcomes

Objective

The aim of this study was to identify the profile of cancer patients admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) and compares the outcomes with non-cancer patients hospitalized in the same period.

Design

This is a cross-sectional study.

Setting

Data were collected from medical records at Hospital Universitário Santa Terezinha, Joaçaba-SC, Brazil.

Patients

Admitted at ICU from April to November 2018.

Interventions

NA.

Main variables of interest

ICU outcomes.

Results

Of the 183 patients, 92 were cancer patients and 91 were non-cancer patients. There was a predominance of females for cancer and males for non-caner group, mostly elderly. Most hospitalizations of cancer patients were postoperative (49.4%). The cause of hospitalization of non-cancer patients was pneumonia, followed by traumatic brain injury, postoperative period, polytrauma, and septicemia. On the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scale, cancer patients scored an average of 7.8 (±4.2) and on the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Disease Classification System (APACHE II) 13.3 points (±8.6), whereas non-cancer scored 7.6 (±3.55) and 20.9 points (±7.2), respectively. Non-cancer patients used more invasive mechanical ventilation and vasoactive drugs.

Conclusion

Cancer patients received less sedation and used less mechanical ventilation than non-cancer patients. In addition, cancer patients had a lower APACHE II score, denoting a less severe condition. Most surgical cancer patients demonstrate to benefit from intensive care, but it is still necessary to create more specific criteria for ICU admission.