[Morbidity and mortality of elderly patients admitted to an Intensive Care Unit of a University Hospital in Fortaleza].

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES To identify the severity of elderly patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) in a university hospital, relating it to the in-ICU mortality. METHODS Retrospective study, with analysis of 130 patients admitted to ICU from March 2004 to July 2005. RESULTS Of the 130 patients, there was a predominance of women, and mean 72.2 ± 7.3 years. There were more patients between 65 and 74 years old. More than 80% of the patients had come from the university hospital itself. The main dysfunctions were from the cardiocirculatory and respiratory systems. Sepsis caused 23.8% of the admissions. Length of stay in ICU was 8.2 ± 7.6 days. The mean of APACHE II was 18.2 ± 7.2. Lesser values of APACHE II, length of stay and mortality were observed in patients with cardiocirculatory dysfunction. The in-ICU mortality was 33.9%, 6.2% before 48 hours. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) was 0.988. CONCLUSIONS The age groups did not determine difference between values of APACHE II. They were related neither to higher mortality rate, nor to higher ICU length of stay. Patients with cardiocirculatory dysfunctions had lesser values of APACHE II, ICU length of stay and in-ICU mortality.