Predictive Factors, Demographics and Mortality for ARDS in Burn Patients

Rationale:

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) after burn injury (post-burn ARDS; pbARDS) is a severe complication associated with a mortality of up to 44%. To date, only few studies have been published on the clinical course and predictive factors of pbARDS.

Objectives:

To characterize the clinical course of pbARDS, to identify relevant predictors, including the development of a prognostic score, and to examine outcome parameters such as mortality and hospitalization days.

Methods:

A retrospective analysis of 400 patients admitted to the Burns Intensive Care Unit of the University Hospital Zurich from 2004 to 2009 was performed. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine independent risk factors for pbARDS. A prognostic score was developed, which was tested with leave-one-out-cross-validation and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves.

Inclusion criteria

all patients treated at the Burns Intensive Care Unit (BICU) of the University Hospital Zurich (USZ) between January 2004 and December 2009.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusions were made because of incomplete or unavailable data, re-hospitalization due to complications of previous burns, and the initial decision not to resuscitate due to unfavorable prognosis.