RT Journal
A1 Boumendil A, Latouche A, Guidet B, et al
T1 ON the benefit of intensive care for very old patients
JF Archives of Internal Medicine
JO Archives of Internal Medicine
YR 2011
FD June 27
VO 171
IS 12
SP 1116
OP 1117
DO 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.102
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2011.102
AB 
Observational studies generally report lower crude mortality rates for patients admitted to an ICU than in those refused,2 yet studies of very old patients find similar crude mortality rates.3 A few studies have reported adjusted results using binary outcome models, but they did not focus on elderly patients and had contradictory conclusions.1,4 Comparisons of survival in admitted and nonadmitted patients is seldom published. Wunsh et al5 showed that elderly ICU survivors had a lower long-term survival than hospital discharge survivors who did not receive ICU care, matched on age, sex, race, and whether they had surgery. Survival curve comparisons require adjustment on more confounding factors such as comorbidities and initial severity.