The epidemiology and outcome of critical illness in Mongolia: A multicenter, prospective, observational cohort study

CONTEXT The epidemiology and outcome of critical illness in Mongolia remain undefined. AIM The aim of this study was to evaluate the epidemiology and outcome of critical illness in Mongolia. SETTINGS AND DESIGN This is a multicenter, prospective, observational cohort study including 19 Mongolian centers. MATERIALS AND METHODS Demographic, clinical, and outcome data of patients >15 years admitted to the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) were collected during a 6-month period. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Descriptive methods, Mann-Whitney-U test, Fisher's exact or Chi-square test, and logistic regression analyses were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS Two thousand and thirty-two patients (53.6% male) with a median age of 49 years (36-62 years) were included. The most frequent ICU admission diagnoses were stroke (17.4%), liver failure (9.2%), heart failure (9%), infection (8.3%), severe trauma (7.5%), traumatic brain injury (7.1%), acute abdomen (7%), pre-eclampsia/eclampsia (5.8%), renal failure (3.9%), and postoperative care following elective and emergency surgeries (3.2%). ICU mortality was 23.5% in the study population and 26.6% when maternal cases were excluded. The five ICU admission diagnoses with the highest ICU mortality were lung tuberculosis (51.9%), traumatic brain injury (42.1%), liver failure (33.7%), stroke (31.9%), and infection (30.8%). The five ICU admission diagnoses causing most death cases were stroke (n = 113), liver failure (n = 63), traumatic brain injury (n = 61), infection (n = 52), and acute abdomen (n = 38). CONCLUSION Critical illness in Mongolia affects younger patients compared to high-income countries. ICU admission diagnoses are similar with a particularly high incidence of stroke and liver failure. ICU mortality is approximately 25% with most deaths caused by stroke, liver failure, and traumatic brain injury.