The sit-to-stand test as a patient-centered functional outcome for critical care research: a pooled analysis of five international rehabilitation studies

by Heather K. O’Grady, Lara Edbrooke, Christopher Farley, Sue Berney, Linda Denehy, Zudin Puthucheary and Michelle E. Kho 

Critical Care volume 26, Article number: 175 (2022) Published: 13 June 2022

 

Background

With ICU mortality rates decreasing, it is increasingly important to identify interventions to minimize functional impairments and improve outcomes for survivors. Simultaneously, we must identify robust patient-centered functional outcomes for our trials. Our objective was to investigate the clinimetric properties of a progression of three outcome measures, from strength to function.

Methods

Adults (≥ 18 years) enrolled in five international ICU rehabilitation studies. Participants required ICU admission were mechanically ventilated and previously independent. Outcomes included two components of the Physical Function in ICU Test-scored (PFIT-s): knee extensor strength and assistance required to move from sit to stand (STS); the 30-s STS (30 s STS) test was the third outcome. We analyzed survivors at ICU and hospital discharge. We report participant demographics, baseline characteristics, and outcome data using descriptive statistics. Floor effects represented ≥ 15% of participants with minimum score and ceiling effects ≥ 15% with maximum score. We calculated the overall group difference score (hospital discharge score minus ICU discharge) for participants with paired assessments.

Results

Of 451 participants, most were male (n = 278, 61.6%) with a median age between 60 and 66 years, a mean APACHE II score between 19 and 24, a median duration of mechanical ventilation between 4 and 8 days, ICU length of stay (LOS) between 7 and 11 days, and hospital LOS between 22 and 31 days. For knee extension, we observed a ceiling effect in 48.5% (160/330) of participants at ICU discharge and in 74.7% (115/154) at hospital discharge; the median [1st, 3rd quartile] PFIT-s difference score (n = 139) was 0 [0,1] (p < 0.05). For STS assistance, we observed a ceiling effect in 45.9% (150/327) at ICU discharge and in 77.5% (79/102) at hospital discharge; the median PFIT-s difference score (n = 87) was 1 [0, 2] (p < 0.05). For 30 s STS, we observed a floor effect in 15.0% (12/80) at ICU discharge but did not observe a floor or ceiling effect at hospital discharge. The median 30 s STS difference score (n = 54) was 3 [1, 6] (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

Among three progressive outcome measures evaluated in this study, the 30 s STS test appears to have the most favorable clinimetric properties to assess function at ICU and hospital discharge in moderate to severely ill participants.

 

Hyperchloremia Is Associated With Acute Kidney Injury in Patients With Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Hyperchloremia Is Associated With Acute Kidney Injury in Patients With Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Sadan, O et al
Critical Care Medicine: August 2017 - Volume 45 - Issue 8 - p 1382–1388


Objective: To assess the prevalence of acute kidney injury in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage patients. Design: Retrospective analysis of all subarachnoid hemorrhage admissions. Settings: Neurocritical care unit. Patients: All patients with a diagnosis of subarachnoid hemorrhage between 2009 and 2014. Interventions: None. 
Measurements and Main Results: Of 1,267 patients included in this cohort, 16.7% developed acute kidney injury, as defined by Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcome criteria (changes in creatinine only). Compared to patients without acute kidney injury, patients with acute kidney injury had a higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus (21.2% vs 9.8%; p < 0.001) and hypertension (70.3% vs 50.5%; p < 0.001) and presented with higher admission creatinine concentrations (1.21 ± 0.09 vs 0.81 ± 0.01 mg/dL [mean ± SD], respectively; p < 0.001). Patients with acute kidney injury also had higher mean serum chloride and sodium concentrations during their ICU stay (113.4 ± 0.6 vs 107.1 ± 0.2 mmol/L and 143.3 ± 0.4 vs 138.8 ± 0.1 mmol/L, respectively; p < 0.001 for both), but similar chloride exposure. The mortality rate was also significantly higher in patients with acute kidney injury (28.3% vs 6.1% in the non-acute kidney injury group [p < 0.001]). Logistic regression analysis revealed that only male gender (odds ratio, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.28–2.59), hypertension (odds ratio, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.11–2.43), diabetes mellitus (odds ratio, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.19–2.99), abnormal baseline creatinine (odds ratio, 2.48; 95% CI, 1.59–3.88), and increase in mean serum chloride concentration (per 10 mmol/L; odds ratio, 7.39; 95% CI, 3.44–18.23), but not sodium, were associated with development of acute kidney injury. Kidney recovery was noted in 78.8% of the cases. Recovery reduced mortality compared to non-recovering subgroup (18.6% and 64.4%, respectively; p < 0.001). 
Conclusions: Critically ill patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage show a strong association between hyperchloremia and acute kidney injury as well as acute kidney injury and mortality.