Table 1.
Baseline Characteristics for Patients Who Received Palliative Care Consults in the Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit
| Demographic variables | N |
|---|---|
| Male gender (%) | 25 (45) |
| Ethnicity (%) | |
| African American (%) | 35 (64) |
| White (%) | 15 (27) |
| Other (%) | 3 (5) |
| Asian (%) | 1 (2) |
| Unknown (%) | 1 (2) |
| Transfer from outside hospital (%) | 27 (49) |
| PMH | |
| Cancer (%) | 19 (35) |
| Stroke (%) | 9 (16) |
| End-stage renal disease (%) | 5 (9) |
| Dementia (%) | 2 (4) |
| Congestive heart failure (%) | 2 (4) |
| Pulmonary hypertension (%) | 1 (2) |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (%) | 1 (2) |
| Coronary artery disease (%) | 1 (2) |
| Diagnosis | |
| Hemorrhagic stroke (intracerebral hemorrhage, intraventricular hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage) (%) | 27 (49) |
| Cancer (%) | 12 (22) |
| Traumatic brain injury (subdural hemorrhage, gunshot wound to the brain) (%) | 10 (18) |
| Spinal cord injury (%) | 4 (7) |
| Infected ventriculoperitoneal shunt (%) | 1 (2) |
| Hydrocephalus (%) | 1 (2) |
| Surgical intervention (%)a | 40 (73) |
a
Surgical intervention = decompressive hemicraniectomy, tumor resection, cerebrovascular procedure, spinal surgery, abscess drainage, ventriculoperitoneal shunt revision, external ventricular drain.
PMH, past medical history.