Older cardiac intensive care patients had higher hospital death odds
Compared with adults under 65, adjusted hospital-death odds were 1.83 times as high at 75–84 and 1.95 at 85-plus; age differences were greater after cardiac arrest.
Our read
Populations- Studied:
- Cohort study of 35,265 medical CICU admissions, against patients aged <65 years (Dose-response, multicenter)
- What changed:
- Adjusted odds of hospital death were higher for patients aged ≥85 years relative to those <65 years (OR 1.95)
- The catch:
- Frailty and clinical triage decisions were not recorded and could confound mortality
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Adults admitted for medical care to cardiac intensive care units accounted for 35,265 admissions at 50 sites in an international observational registry analysis. Centers recorded consecutive admissions during annual periods of at least two months from 2017 through 2024.
Older age was associated with higher adjusted odds of dying in hospital, with the increase appearing to level off after 75. Among admissions involving cardiac arrest, when the heart stops pumping, patients aged 85 or older had 3.09 times the adjusted odds of hospital death compared with those under 65. The models accounted for factors including sex, illness severity and kidney function. Patients aged 85 or older received advanced support for breathing and circulation less often than younger groups.
Why it matters
For older adults needing cardiac intensive care, the authors said the findings supported considering factors beyond chronological age when making admission and care decisions.
Caveats
The analysis compared people already admitted to cardiac intensive care, so admission choices and age-related differences in care may have influenced the survival comparison. Outcomes covered the hospital stay, not longer-term survival.
From the paper
- Result
… with adjusted ORs of 1.69 (95% CI: 1.30-2.19), 3.29 (95% CI: 2.40-4.53), and 3.92 (95% CI: 2.32-6.63) for the 65–<75, 75–<85, and ≥85-year age groups, respectively.
- Limitation
Secondly, the registry does not collect granular data regarding clinical decision-making surrounding triage and invasive intervention selection, representing an unmeasured variable that may have influenced the observed outcomes.
Quoted word for word from the full text on PubMed Central.
- Chronological age
- Intra-aortic balloon pump
- Mechanical circulatory support
- Cardiac arrest
- Acute coronary syndrome
- Humans
The paper
Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Older Patients Admitted to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
Mass General Brigham; Bellevue Hospital Center
JACC Advances, Jun 2026, Open access
Comments
Be the first to comment.