The frequency of acid-base disorders on admission to the intensive care and its association with in-hospital outcome, Cape Town, South Africa: a retrospective cohort study.

Introduction: acid-base disorders are very common in critically ill patients and contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to identify the types of acid-base disorders at the time of admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and its associated ICU and in-hospital mortality.

Methods: we conducted a retrospective cohort study of all adult patients that were admitted to the ICU and had an arterial blood gas sample at the time of admission from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019.