Age and decisions to limit life support for patients with acute lung injury: a prospective cohort study

Table 2 Selected patient characteristics and outcomes, by decade of age

	Patient age
	<40	40 to 49	50 to 59	60 to 69	70 to 79	≥80
Number of patients (n)	94	125	236	74	45	26
Charlson Comorbidity Index	1 (0 to 4)	2 (1 to 4)	2 (1 to 4)	3 (1 to 4)	3 (2 to 4)	3 (2 to 4)
Functional Comorbidity Index	1 (0 to 1)	1 (0 to 2)	1 (0 to 3)	2 (1 to 3)	3 (2 to 4)	3 (1 to 4)
APACHE II score at ICU admission^a	24 (20 to 33)	24 (19 to 33)	28 (21 to 33)	27 (20 to 34)	28 (20 to 36)	29 (21 to 35)
First event^b
Cardiac arrest	15	13	13	8	13	15
ICU discharge	60	58	41	43	38	23
Limitation in life support	26	30	45	49	49	62
Days from ALI onset to limitation in life support^c	8 (6 to 19)	7 (3 to 19)	9 (3 to 16)	7 (3 to 13)	4 (2 to 10)	11 (4 to 16)

Data presented as median (interquartile range) or percentage, unless otherwise stated. ALI, acute lung injury; APACHE, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation. ^aAPACHE II scores include points awarded for patient age. After removing these points, the median and interquartile range of scores for each age category are as follows: <40, 24 (20 to 33); 40 to 49, 23 (18 to 32); 50 to 59, 25 (18 to 31); 60 to 69, 22 (16 to 29); 70 to 79, 23 (15 to 30); ≥80, 23 (15 to 29). ^bProportions may not sum to 100% due to rounding. ^cAmong patients with a limitation in life support before ICU discharge or cardiac arrest.

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