Table 2.

Outcomes of chronically critically ill study patients

Outcome	Not Delirious or Comatose* (N = 104)	Delirious or Comatose* (N = 281)	All (N = 385)	P Value†
Hospital length of stay, median (IQR), d	57 (40–82)	53 (42–73)	54 (41–76)	0.440‡
Multiple RCU complications	25.5	41.2	36.9	0.005
Liberated from mechanical ventilation at RCU discharge	62.5	42.7	48.1	0.001
Hospital discharge destination				<0.001§
Home	28.2	8.9	14.1
Rehabilitation facility	19.4	5.4	9.1
Nursing home or acute care hospital	34.0	49.3	45.2
Died in hospital	18.5	36.1	31.3
Cumulative mortality
RCU mortality	12.5	22.8	20.0	0.025
Hospital mortality	18.3	35.9	31.2	0.001
3-mo Mortality	28.2	58.8	50.5	<0.001
6- mo Postdischarge outcome||				<0.001
Dead	37.9	62.8	56.1
Alive with LTBD	30.1	27.8	28.4
Alive without LTBD	32.0	9.4	15.5

Definition of abbreviations: CAM-ICU = Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit; IQR = interquartile range; LTBD = long-term brain dysfunction; RCU = respiratory care unit.

Data presented as percentage except where noted.

^*Categories result from multiple assessments of brain dysfunction during RCU treatment: “Comatose” = patient assessed by the Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS) as level −4 or −5 for ≥75% of the assessments; “Delirious” = patient with at least one episode of delirium by the CAM-ICU and <75% of assessments finding coma; “Not Delirious or Comatose” = patient had no episode of delirium, <75% of assessments finding coma, and at least one assessment of “not delirious” by CAM-ICU; “Other” = Not meeting criteria for any other category (N = 14), grouped here within the “comatose” category.

^†Chi-square test used except where noted.

^‡Wilcoxon rank-sum test.

^§Fisher exact test, N = 383.

^||N = 375.