Opname van oudere patiënten op de Intensive Care

– Elderly patients have an increased probability of dying after treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU), compared with younger patients.

– The risk of dying is largely determined by the admission type (patients with planned admissions have a better prognosis than those with unplanned admissions), severity of illness and functional status prior to admission.

– Elderly patients surviving ICU often experience a decline in functional status. No data are available on the factors that predict functional outcome.

– Elderly patients do not necessarily prefer life-sustaining treatment to palliative care. The willingness to undergo ICU treatment depends on the likelihood of survival and beneficial functional outcome.

– New prognostic models should be developed specifically to predict both survival and functional outcome in individual elderly patients after admission to ICU.

Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2005;149:2215-20