Oncological patients admitted to an intensive care unit. Analysis of predictors of in-hospital mortality. / Pacientes oncológicos ingresados en Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos. Análisis de factores predictivos de mortalidad.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the factors influencing in-hospital mortality among cancer patients admitted to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). DESIGN: A retrospective observational study was carried out. SETTING: The ICU of a community hospital. PATIENTS: Adults diagnosed with solid or hematological malignancies admitted to the ICU, excluding those admitted after scheduled surgery and those with an ICU stay of under 24h. INTERVENTIONS: Review of clinical data. VARIABLES OF INTEREST: Referring ward and length of stay prior to admission to the ICU, type of tumor, extent, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) score, reason for ICU admission, severity (SOFA, APACHE-II, SAPS-II), type of therapy received in the ICU, and in-hospital mortality. RESULTS: A total of 167 patients (mean age 71.1 years, 62.9% males; 79% solid tumors) were included, of which 61 (36%) died during their hospital stay (35 in the ICU). The factors associated to increased in-hospital mortality were ECOG scores 3-4 (OR 7.23, 95%CI: 1.95-26.87), metastatic disease (OR 3.77, 95%CI: 1.70-8.36), acute kidney injury (OR 3.66, 95%CI: 1.49-8.95) and SOFA score at ICU admission (OR 1.26, 95%CI: 1.10-1.43). A total of 60.3% of the survivors were independent at hospital discharge. CONCLUSIONS: In our series, only one-third of the critically ill cancer patients admitted to the ICU died during hospital admission, and more than 50% showed good performance status at hospital discharge. The clinical prognostic factors associated to in-hospital mortality were poor performance status, metastatic disease, SOFA score at ICU admission and acute kidney injury.