Abstract

Background: For a significant majority of cancers age is a major risk factor. The aim of our study was to investigate survival of older patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) with underlying haematological malignancy and compare them to younger patients.

Matherials and methods: A prospective observational study was carried out in Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos from 2017 to 2019. Patientswere categorized into two groups: younger (< 65 years) and older (≥ 65 years), depending on age on admission to ICU.

Results: 114 patientswere included in the study. Therewere 61 (53.51%) patients in the younger patient group and 53 (46.49%) patients in the older patient group. The older patient group had more chronic heart failure (34.0% vs. 11.5%), vascular disease (67.9% vs. 21.3%), poor physical performance status (39.6% vs. 13.1%) and higher APACHE II scores (23.34 vs. 20.31). Younger patients more often received intensive chemotherapy (57.4% vs. 39.6%). The proportion of patients for whom SOFA score increased over the first 48 hours in ICU also qSOFA and SOFA scores did not differ between the groups. Both groups received the same amount of organ support therapies such as vasopressors, invasive mechanical ventilation, and renal replacement therapy.We found that age did not influence survival of the patients as there was no difference in ICU, 30 days and overall mortality between the groups.

Conclusion: Age group does not influence survival of critically ill oncohaematological patients, and it shouldn't be the criteria for eligibility to the ICU.