A Positive Fluid Balance in the First Week Was Associated With Increased Long-Term Mortality in Critically Ill Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Introduction: Early fluid balance has been found to affect short-term mortality in critically ill patients; however, there is little knowledge regarding the association between early cumulative fluid balance (CFB) and long-term mortality. This study aims to determine the distinct association between CFB day 1-3 (CFB 1-3) and day 4-7 (CFB 4-7) and long-term mortality in critically ill patients.

Patients And Methods: This study was conducted at Taichung Veterans General Hospital, a tertiary care referral center in central Taiwan, by linking the hospital critical care data warehouse 2015-2019 and death registry data of the Taiwanese National Health Research Database.