Management and outcomes of critically ill adult patients with convulsive status epilepticus and preadmission functional impairments.

Objective: Functional status is among the criteria relevant to decisions about intensive care unit (ICU) admission and level of care. Our main objective was to describe the characteristics and outcomes of adult patients requiring ICU admission for Convulsive Status Epilepticus (CSE) according to whether their functional status was previously impaired.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data from consecutive adults who were admitted to two French ICUs for CSE between 2005 and 2018 and then included them retrospectively in the Ictal Registry. Pre-existing functional impairment was defined as a Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) score of 3 before admission. The primary outcome measure was a loss of ≥1 GOS score point at 1 year. Multivariate analysis was used to identify factors associated with this measure.

Results: The 206 women and 293 men had a median age of 59 years [47-70 years]. The preadmission GOS score was 3 in 56 (11.2%) patients and 4 or 5 in 443 patients. Compared to the GOS-4/5 group, the GOS-3 group was characterized by a higher frequency of treatment-limitation decisions (35.7% vs. 12%, P < 0.0001), similar ICU mortality (19.6 vs. 13.1, P = 0.22), higher 1-year mortality (39.3% vs. 25.6%, P < 0.01), and a similar proportion of patients with no worsening of the GOS score at 1 year (42.9 vs. 44.1, P = 0.89). By multivariate analysis, not achieving a favorable 1-year outcome was associated with age above 59 years (OR, 2.36; 95%CI, 1.55-3.58, P < 0.0001), preexisting ultimately fatal comorbidity (OR, 2.92; 95%CI, 1.71-4.98, P = 0.0001), refractory CSE (OR, 2.19; 95%CI, 1.43-3.36, P = 0.0004), cerebral insult as the cause of CSE (OR, 2.75; 95%CI, 1.75-4.27, P < 0.0001), and Logistic Organ Dysfunction score ≥ 3 at ICU admission (OR, 2.08; 95%CI, 1.37-3.15, P = 0.0006). A preadmission GOS score of 3 was not associated with a functional decline during the first year (OR, 0.61; 95%CI, 0.31-1.22, P = 0.17).

Significance: Preadmission functional status in adult patients with CSE is not independently associated with a functional decline during the first postadmission year. This finding may help physicians make ICU admission decisions and adult patients write advance directives.

Study Registration: #NCT03457831.