Publications by authors named "Natalie Linke"

Objective: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a high-risk procedure with significant morbidity and mortality and there is an uncertain volume-outcome relationship, especially regarding long-term functional outcomes. The aim of this study was to examine the association between ECMO centre volume and long-term death and disability outcomes.

Design Setting And Participants: This is a registry-embedded observational cohort study.

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The 12-item World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) provides a standardised method for measuring health and disability.

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Article Synopsis
  • The LOGICAL trial aims to compare the effects of conservative versus liberal oxygen therapy on ICU patients with suspected hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) after cardiac arrest.
  • Involving 1400 comatose adults, this randomised clinical trial will measure outcomes like survival with good neurological function using the Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale at 180 days.
  • The results will help clarify the optimal oxygen therapy approach for these patients and have the potential to improve clinical practices in critical care settings.
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Article Synopsis
  • ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) is a life-supporting procedure for critically ill patients with severe cardiac or respiratory failure, but its long-term effects on survival and disability are still unclear.
  • A study conducted in Australia involved 391 patients who underwent ECMO, assessing their outcomes related to death or moderate-to-severe disability 6 months post-treatment.
  • Results showed that 66% of patients experienced death or disability, with higher rates in those who received extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (eCPR) compared to veno-venous ECMO (VV-ECMO), indicating the need for careful consideration of treatment methods.
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Background: Establishing sequela following critical illness is a public health priority; however, recruitment and retention of this cohort make assessing functional outcomes difficult. Completing patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) via telephone may improve participant and researcher involvement; however, there is little evidence regarding the correlation of PROMs to performance-based outcome measures in critical care survivors.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between self-reported and performance-based measures of function in survivors of critical illness.

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Background: Data on long-term outcomes after sepsis-associated critical illness have mostly come from small cohort studies, with no information about the incidence of new disability. We investigated whether sepsis-associated critical illness was independently associated with new disability at 6 months after ICU admission compared with other types of critical illness.

Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of a multicenter, prospective cohort study in six metropolitan intensive care units in Australia.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to compare conservative versus liberal oxygen therapy in ICU patients with non-hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) to understand the effects on mortality and oxygen saturation levels.
  • A post-hoc analysis of 217 patients from the ICU-ROX trial showed that those on conservative oxygen spent less time with high oxygen saturation levels, but there was no significant difference in mortality rates after 180 days between the two groups.
  • The researchers concluded that further studies with a larger sample size are needed to confirm their findings regarding the effects of oxygen therapy on mortality rates in this patient population.
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The outcomes of survivors of critical illness due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) compared with non-COVID-19 are yet to be established. We aimed to investigate new disability at 6 months in mechanically ventilated patients admitted to Australian ICUs with COVID-19 compared with non-COVID-19. We included critically ill patients with COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 from two prospective observational studies.

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Background: The use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is increasing in the management of critical care patients. ECMO service delivery requires an organisation-supported approach to ensure appropriate resources to deliver training, equipment, capacity, staffing, and the required model of care for quality care delivery. The aim of this nested substudy was to explore challenges specific to nursing staff in ECMO services in Australian intensive care units.

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Background: There are few reports of new functional impairment following critical illness from COVID-19. We aimed to describe the incidence of death or new disability, functional impairment and changes in health-related quality of life of patients after COVID-19 critical illness at 6 months.

Methods: In a nationally representative, multicenter, prospective cohort study of COVID-19 critical illness, we determined the prevalence of death or new disability at 6 months, the primary outcome.

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Purpose: Liberal use of oxygen may contribute to secondary brain injury in patients with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE). However, there are limited data on the effect of different oxygen regimens on survival and neurological disability in HIE patients.

Methods: We undertook a post-hoc analysis of the 166 patients with suspected HIE enrolled in a trial comparing conservative oxygen therapy with usual oxygen therapy in 1000 mechanically ventilated ICU patients.

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Purpose: Sepsis is a common reason for intensive care unit (ICU) admission and mortality in ICU patients. Despite increasing interest in treatment strategies limiting oxygen exposure in ICU patients, no trials have compared conservative vs. usual oxygen in patients with sepsis.

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Background: Patients who are undergoing mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU) often receive a high fraction of inspired oxygen (Fio) and have a high arterial oxygen tension. The conservative use of oxygen may reduce oxygen exposure, diminish lung and systemic oxidative injury, and thereby increase the number of ventilator-free days (days alive and free from mechanical ventilation).

Methods: We randomly assigned 1000 adult patients who were anticipated to require mechanical ventilation beyond the day after recruitment in the ICU to receive conservative or usual oxygen therapy.

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Background: The balance of risks and benefits of conservative v standard care oxygen strategies for patients who are invasively ventilated in the intensive care unit (ICU) is uncertain.

Objective: To describe the study protocol and statistical analysis plan for the ICU randomised trial comparing two approaches to oxygen therapy (ICU-ROX).

Design, Setting And Participants: Protocol for a multicentre, randomised, participant and outcome assessor-blinded, standard care-controlled, parallel-group, two-sided superiority trial to be conducted in up to 22 ICUs in Australia and New Zealand.

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Objective: The objective of the intensive care unit randomised trial comparing two approaches to oxygen therapy (ICU-ROX) pilot phase, which included the first 100 patients of an overall sample of 1000, was to examine feasibility.

Design: Investigator-initiated, prospective, parallel-group, pilot randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Six medical-surgical intensive care units (ICUs) in Australia and New Zealand, with participants recruited from September 2015 through June 2016.

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