A Comprehensive Analysis of 5-Year Outcomes in Patients with Cancer Admitted to Intensive Care Units

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term (5-year) clinical outcomes of patients who received intensive care unit (ICU) treatment using Korean nationwide data. Methods: All patients aged >18 years with ICU admission according to Korean claims data from January 2008 to December 2010 were enrolled. These enrolled patients were followed up until December 2015. The primary outcome was ICU mortality. Results: Among all critically ill patients admitted to the ICU (n=323,765), patients with cancer showed higher ICU mortality (18.6%) than those without cancer (13.2%, p<0.001). However, there was no significant difference in ICU mortality at day 28 among patients without cancer (14.5%) and those with cancer (lung cancer or hematologic malignancies) (14.3%). Compared to patients without cancer, hazard ratios of those with cancer for ICU mortality at 5 years were: 1.90 (1.87-1.94) for lung cancer; 1.44 (1.43-1.46) for other solid cancers; and 3.05 (2.95-3.16) for hematologic malignancies. Conclusion: This study showed that the long-term survival rate of patients with cancer was significantly worse than that of general critically ill patients. However, short term outcomes of critically ill patients with cancer were not significantly different from those of general patients, except for those with lung cancer or hematologic malignancies.