Timing of onset and burden of persistent critical illness in Australia and New Zealand: a retrospective, population-based, observational study

Abstract

Critical care physicians recognise persistent critical illness as a specific syndrome, yet few data exist for the timing of the transition from acute to persistent critical illness. Defining the onset of persistent critical illness as the time at which diagnosis and illness severity at intensive care unit (ICU) arrival no longer predict outcome better than do simple pre-ICU patient characteristics, we measured the timing of this onset at a population level in Australia and New Zealand, and the variation therein, and assessed the characteristics, burden of care, and hospital outcomes of patients with persistent critical illness.