Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34661693›Full record

ArticleIntensive care medicine2022

Variation in severity-adjusted resource use and outcome in intensive care units.

Jukka Takala, André Moser, Rahul Raj, Ville Pettilä, Irina Irincheeva, Tuomas Selander, Olli Kiiski, Tero Varpula, Matti Reinikainen, Stephan M Jakob

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Intensive care medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Jukka TakalaDepartment of Intensive Care Medicine, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. jukka.takala@med.unibe.ch.
André MoserClinical Trials Unit, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Rahul RajDepartment of Neurosurgery, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
Ville PettiläDivision of Intensive Care, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
Irina IrincheevaClinical Trials Unit, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Tuomas SelanderScience Service Center, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
Olli KiiskiHWE Benchmarking Services, TietoEvry, Helsinki, Finland.
Tero VarpulaDivision of Intensive Care, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
Matti Reinikainen *Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Kuopio University Hospital and University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
Stephan M Jakob *Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2195-0473

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeIntensive care patients have increased risk of death and their care is expensive. We investigated whether risk-adjusted mortality and resources used to achieve survivors change over time and if their variation is associated with variables related to intensive care unit (ICU) organization and structure.

methodsData of 207,131 patients treated in 2008-2017 in 21 ICUs in Finland, Estonia and Switzerland were extracted from a benchmarking database. Resource use was measured using ICU length of stay, daily Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System Scores (TISS) and purchasing power parity-adjusted direct costs (2015-2017; 17 ICUs). The ratio of observed to severity-adjusted expected resource use (standardized resource use ratio; SRUR) was calculated. The number of expected survivors and the ratio of observed to expected mortality (standardized mortality ratio; SMR) was based on a mortality prediction model covering 2015-2017. Fourteen a priori variables reflecting structure and organization were used as explanatory variables for SRURs in multivariable models.

resultsSMR decreased over time, whereas SRUR remained unchanged, except for decreased TISS-based SRUR. Direct costs of one ICU day, TISS score and ICU admission varied between ICUs 2.5-5-fold. Differences between individual ICUs in both SRUR and SMR were up to > 3-fold, and their evolution was highly variable, without clear association between SRUR and SMR. High patient turnover was consistently associated with low SRUR but not with SMR.

conclusionThe wide and independent variation in both SMR and SRUR suggests that they should be used together to compare the performance of different ICUs or an individual ICU over time.

Indexed as

Critical CareIntensive Care UnitsBenchmarkingDatabases, FactualHospital MortalityHumansLength of StayCost controlHealth care benchmarkingHealth resourcesHospital mortalityIntensive care unitResource allocation

Identifiers

PMID34661693
PMCPMC8724095

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.