Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of Australian patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) by type of ICU (rural v metropolitan v tertiary)*
| All (106 contributing ICUs) |
Rural (6 contributing ICUs) |
Metropolitan (33 contributing ICUs) |
Tertiary (34 contributing ICUs) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total number of episodes of care | 876 522 | 172 444 | 197 659 | 506 419 |
| Median age (IQR), years | 63.1 (47.9–74.4) | 64.6 (48.4–75.8) | 63.9 (47.2–75.8) | 62.5 (48.0–73.3) |
| Male sex† | 505 965 (57.7%) | 93 107 (54.0%) | 103 871 (52.6%) | 308 987 (61.0%) |
| Remoteness | ||||
| Major city | 482 227 (55.6%) | 10 979 (6.3%) | 146 85 (72.0%) | 325 063 (66.3%) |
| Inner regional | 225 728 (26.0%) | 85 289 (49.2%) | 40 924 (20.2%) | 99 515 (20.3%) |
| Outer regional | 126 311 (14.6%) | 63 383 (36.6%) | 11 741 (5.8%) | 51 187 (10.4%) |
| Remote | 16 315 (1.9%) | 6815 (3.9%) | 872 (0.4%) | 8628 (1.8%) |
| Very remote | 16 692 (1.9%) | 6929 (4.0%) | 3347 (1.7%) | 6416 (1.3%) |
| Median ARIA‡ score (IQR) | 0.11 (0–1.8) | 2.0 (1.2–3.2) | 0.01 (0–0.3) | 0 (0–0.9) |
| Median IRSAD‡ (IQR) | 972 (933–1031) | 947 (914–968) | 984 (935–1036) | 992 (941–1050) |
| Emergency admission§, ¶ | 623 207 (71.7%) | 139 264 (81.1%) | 160 330 (81.7%) | 323 613 (64.5%) |
| Medical response team§, ** | 90 579 (11.2%) | 18 559 (11.1%) | 24 292 (12.7%) | 47 728 (10.6%) |
| Median hours preceding ICU admission (IQR) | 8.5 (3.8–26.4) | 6.9 (3.7–16.3) | 7.7 (3.3–22.0) | 9.8 (4.1–30.8) |
| ICU§ | 639 506 (72.1%) | 79 006 (44.9%) | 142 785 (68.9%) | 417 715 (82.8%) |
| Chronic disease status§ | ||||
| Respiratory | 74 849 (8.4%) | 20 842 (11.9%) | 23 983 (11.6%) | 30 024 (6.0%) |
| Cardiovascular | 73 964 (8.3%) | 20 711 (11.8%) | 21 914 (10.6%) | 31 339 (6.2%) |
| Cirrhosis | 20 644 (2.3%) | 3651 (2.1%) | 4928 (2.4%) | 12 065 (2.4%) |
| Renal | 33 159 (3.7%) | 8745 (5.0%) | 7987 (3.9%) | 16 427 (3.3%) |
| Immunosuppression | 57 742 (6.5%) | 7796 (4.4%) | 9515 (4.6%) | 40 431 (8.0%) |
| Lymphoma | 7983 (1.0%) | 1122 (0.6%) | 1796 (0.9%) | 5065 (1.0%) |
| Metastatic disease | 30 930 (3.5%) | 4420 (2.5%) | 6834 (3.3%) | 19 676 (3.9%) |
| Leukaemia | 10 303 (1.2%) | 1235 (0.7%) | 2018 (1.0%) | 7050 (1.4%) |
| Median APACHE II score (IQR) | 15 (11–21) | 14 (9–20) | 16 (11–22) | 15 (11–21) |
| Median APACHE III score (IQR) | 51 (36–69) | 46 (32–64) | 53 (38–72) | 52 (38–70) |
| Mean ANZROD (SD) | 10.1 ± 17.7 | 9.2 ± 16.0 | 10.8 ± 17.9 | 10.1 ± 18.0 |
| Median ANZROD (IQR) | 2.6 (0.8–10.0) | 2.7 (0.8–9.0) | 3.2 (0.9–11.3) | 2.4 (0.7–9.7) |
| Admission diagnosis‡ | ||||
| Cardiological | 100 438 (11.3%) | 21 703 (12.3%) | 24 182 (11.7%) | 54 553 (10.8%) |
| Cardiac surgery | 101 208 (11.4%) | 644 (0.4%) | 2762 (1.3%) | 97 802 (19.4%) |
| Respiratory | 147 481 (16.6%) | 35 632 (20.3%) | 44 337 (21.4%) | 67 512 (13.4%) |
| Gastrointestinal | 144 448 (16.3%) | 36 208 (20.6%) | 42 165 (20.3%) | 66 075 (13.1%) |
| Neurological | 92 332 (10.4%) | 11 789 (6.7%) | 11 294 (5.5%) | 69 249 (13.7%) |
| Sepsis | 76 606 (8.6%) | 17 659 (10.0%) | 22 017 (10.6%) | 36 930 (7.3%) |
| Trauma | 55 881 (6.3%) | 9021 (5.1%) | 5100 (2.5%) | 41 760 (8.3%) |
| Other | 169 222 (19.1%) | 43 209 (24.6%) | 55 414 (26.7%) | 70 559 (14.0%) |
| Mechanically ventilated | 358 944 (40.4%) | 34 983 (19.9%) | 63 166 (30.5%) | 260 795 (51.7%) |
ANZROD Australian and New Zealand Risk of Death; APACHE = Acute Physiology and Chronic Health; ARIA+ = Accessibility and Remoteness Index (2011 iteration); IRSAD = Index or Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage (2011 iteration).
P < 0.001 for all.
Data available for 876 357 episodes of care (tertiary, n = 506 343; metropolitan, n = 197 595; rural, n = 172 419).
Available for episodes of care with postcode data (n = 870 054; tertiary, n = 491 656; metro, n = 204 098; rural, n = 174 300).
Defined by ANZICS APD data dictionary.
Data available for 869 471 episodes of care (tertiary, n = 501 540; metropolitan, n = 196 160; rural, n = 171 771).
Data available for 807 549 episodes of care (tertiary, n = 45 017; metro, n = 190 875; rural, n = 166 657).