Table 1.
Demographic and Baseline Characteristics*.
| Variable | Patients N = 136 |
|---|---|
|
| |
| Age at enrollment | 59 (52, 68) |
|
| |
| Gender | |
| Male | 62% |
| Female | 38% |
|
| |
| Race | |
| Multiracial heritage | 3% |
| White/Caucasian | 88% |
| Black/African American or Negro | 8% |
| Other | 1% |
|
| |
| Education | |
| Less than high school | 14% |
| High school or GED | 38% |
| Some college | 27% |
| Associates degree | 6% |
| Bachelors degree | 8% |
| Masters degree | 5% |
| Terminal degree | 3% |
|
| |
| Insurance | |
| None | 6% |
| Government/VHA | 5% |
| Medicaid only | 5% |
| Medicare + Medicaid | 12% |
| Medicare + private | 28% |
| Medicare only | 10% |
| Private only | 33% |
|
| |
| IQCODE at enrollment ǂ | 3 (3, 3.27) |
|
| |
| Mean SOFA score at enrollment† | 3.3 (4.5, 6.2) |
|
| |
| Mean Charlson score at enrollment‡ | 2 (1, 4) |
|
| |
| Primary reason for ICU admission¶ | |
| Sepsis/septic shock | 43% |
| ARDS, with or without infection | 13% |
| Airway protection/upper airway obstruction | 9% |
| COPD/asthma | 4% |
| Other pulmonary (inc. pneumonia, PE/DVT) | 11% |
| Acute MI/cardiogenic shock | 3% |
| Arrhythmia | 1% |
| GI bleed | 1% |
| Renal failure | 1% |
| Metabolic/endocrine/electrolyte | 1% |
| Malignancy | 1% |
| Seizures | 1% |
| Surgery, any type | 11% |
Median values (IQR, Interquartile Range)
The Short Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) ranges from 1 to 5, with a score of 3 indicating no change in cognition over the past 10 years, a score lower than 3 indicating improvement, and a score higher than 3 indicating decline in cognition, as compared with 10 years before. A score of 3.6 or higher indicates preexisting cognitive impairment.
No patients had congestive heart failure or cardiomyopathy, drug overdose or withdrawal, hemorrhagic shock, other infectious disease, cirrhosis/hepatic failure, pancreatitis, or neurologic disease as the primary reason for ICU admission.
Scores on the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) range from 0 to 24 (from 0 to 4 for each of six organ systems), with higher scores indicating more severe organ dysfunction. We used a modified SOFA score, which excluded the Glasgow Coma Scale components, since coma was included separately in our models.
Scores on the Charlson comorbidity index range from 0 to 33, with higher scores indicating a greater burden of illness; a score of 1 or 2 is associated with mortality of approximately 25% at 10 years.