Determinants of long-term survival after intensive care.

Objective: To identify prognostic determinants of long-term survival for patients treated in intensive care units (ICUs) who survived to hospital discharge.

Design: An ICU clinical cohort linked to state-wide hospital records and death registers.

Setting And Patients: Adult patients admitted to a 22-bed ICU at a major teaching hospital in Perth, Western Australia, between 1987 and 2002 who survived to hospital discharge (n = 19,921) were followed-up until December 31, 2003.