Abstract
Background:
Emerging evidence suggests that coronary intensive care units are evolving into intensive care environments with an increasing burden of non-cardiovascular illness, but previous studies have been limited to older populations or single center experiences.
Methods:
Canadian national health-care data was used to identify all patients ≥18 years admitted to dedicated coronary intensive care units (2005–2015) and admissions were categorized as primary cardiac or non-cardiac. The outcomes of interest included longitudinal trends in admission diagnoses, critical care therapies, and all-cause in-hospital mortality.
Results:
Among the 373,992 patients admitted to a coronary intensive care unit, minimal changes in the proportion of patients admitted with a primary cardiac (88.2% to 86.9%;
Conclusion:
In a national dataset we observed a changing case-mix among patients admitted to a coronary intensive care unit, though the proportion of patients with a primary cardiac diagnosis remained stable. There was an increase in clinical acuity highlighted by critical care therapies, but in-hospital mortality rates for both primary cardiac and non-cardiac conditions declined across all hospitals. Our findings confirm the changing coronary intensive care unit case-mix and have implications for future coronary intensive care unit training and staffing.
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