A retrospective observational study of mortality rates in elderly patients with shock in a New Zealand district hospital ICU.

Aim: Admitting very elderly, critically ill patients to ICU is controversial. We compared our mortality data in a subgroup of elderly patients to internationally published outcomes.

Methods: Tauranga Hospital ICU retrospectively investigated their mortality outcomes for patients with septic shock. The ANZICS adult database (AORTIC), Tauranga Hospital computer records and medical records were used to identify the study cohort and provide information on demographics, admission times and shock types between January 2009 and December 2014. Patients were divided into groups; not old (<74 years), old (75-84 years) and very old (>85 years) to compare survival statistics at ICU discharge, hospital discharge, 28 days, six months and 12 months.

Results: Patients in the >85 year group at Tauranga ICU had a 38.5% survival.

Conclusion: With careful selection, elderly patients with septic shock may have an acceptable outcome.