ACUTE ABDOMEN IN INTENSIVE CARE UNIT: ETIOLOGY, COMORBIDITY AND SEVERITY OF 1,523 PATIENTS.

BACKGROUND

Clinical features and outcomes of patients admitted to the intensive care unit due to acute abdomen are important to be investigated.

AIMS

To evaluate the outcomes of critically ill subjects with acute abdomen according to etiology, comorbidity and severity.

METHODS

Outcomes of 1,523 patients (878 women, mean age 66±18 years) consecutively admitted to a specialized gastrointestinal intensive care unit with different causes of acute abdomen from January 2012 to December 2019, were retrospectively evaluated according to etiology, comorbidity and severity.

RESULTS

The most common causes of acute abdomen were obstructive and inflammatory, particularly large bowel obstruction (27%), small bowel obstruction (18%) and acute pancreatitis (17%). Overall mortality was 13%. Surgery was required in 34% of patients. Median length of stay in the hospital was 9 [1-101] days. On univariate analysis mortality was significantly associated with age, APACHE II, Charlson comorbidity index, requirement for surgery and malignancy (p<0.0001), but only APACHE II, Charlson comorbidity index and surgical interventional remained significant on multivariate analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Critically ill patients admitted to the intensive care unit with acute abdomen constitute a heterogeneous group of subjects with different prognosis. Mortality is more related to the severity of the disease, comorbidity and need for surgery than to the etiology of the acute abdomen.