BACKGROUND We investigated the value of plasma deoxyribonucleic acid concentrations in patients presenting with acute abdominal pain to predict need for intensive care or mortality. METHODS Plasma deoxyribonucleic acid taken from patients with acute abdominal pain was analyzed for the beta-globin gene using the quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The primary outcome measure was the combin...

OBJECTIVE We sought to design an emergency department sepsis scoring system to identify risk of intensive care unit (ICU) admission in pregnant and postpartum women. STUDY DESIGN The Sepsis in Obstetrics Score (S.O.S.) was created by modifying validated scoring systems in accordance with recognized physiologic changes of pregnancy. The S.O.S. was applied to a retrospective cohort of pregnant ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical outcome (180-day mortality) of very elderly critically ill patients (age ≥80 years) and compare with those aged 60 to 79 years. DESIGN Historical cohort study. SETTING Regional hospital, Hong Kong. PATIENTS Patients aged ≥60 years admitted between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2013 to the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital. RESULTS Over 5 years, 4226...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of our study was to determine the admission factors associated with intensive care unit readmission among oncohematological patients. METHODS Retrospective cohort study using an intensive care unit database from a tertiary oncological center. The participants included 1,872 critically ill oncohematological patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit from Januar...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have addressed patients in whom treatment is withheld or withdrawn after a period of intensive care unit management. However, no studies have investigated the epidemiology of patients with treatment limitations in place at the time of intensive care unit admission. OBJECTIVE To report the epidemiology and outcome of patients with treatment limitations at intensive ...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the place of stay at postoperative and to verify medical-surgical complications that would justify admission to the intensive care unit, including death. METHODS Cross-over, prospective, open study that evaluated 120 patients who were submitted to primary bariatric surgery by video laparoscopy from May 2007 to April 2008 in a tertiary hospi...