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Background: The appropriate level of postoperative critical care for patients undergoing emergency surgery is unknown. We aimed to assess the outcomes of postoperative patients treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) and high dependency care unit (HDU) after emergency surgery.Methods: Analysis of national in-patient registry data in Japan from July 2010 to March 2018, including patients undergoing one of 10 emergency surgeries on the day of hospital admission. The exposures were ICU or HDU admission on the day of surgery. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. We performed multivariable logistic regression analysis adjusted for patient and hospital characteristics. Results are presented as n (%) and odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals.Results: We included 158 149 patients from 646 hospitals. Crude in-hospital mortality for each procedure ranged from 168/8583 (2.0%) for cholecystectomy to 2842/12 958 (21.9%) for patients undergoing surgery for traumatic brain injury. Compared with HDU admission, ICU admission was associated with lower in-hospital mortality among the cohorts for medium-mortality risk procedures (procedure-specific mortality 5-15%) (ICU: 8834/73 616 [12.0%] vs HDU: 2586/25 262 [10.2%]; OR=0.90 [0.85-0.96]; P=0.001), and high-mortality risk procedures (procedures-specific mortality >15%) (ICU: 3445/16 334 [21.1%] vs HDU: 996/4613 [21.6%]; OR=0.86 [0.78-0.96]; P=0.005). There were no differences in mortality for low-mortality risk procedures with procedure-specific mortality <5%.Conclusions: In this national registry study, postoperative critical care in ICU was associated with lower in-hospital mortality than in HDU for patients undergoing medium-risk and high-risk emergency surgery. Further research is needed to understand the role of critical care for surgical patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To compare the outcomes of patients with acute myocardial infarction who were treated in ICUs versus high-dependency care units (HDUs).Design: A nationwide, propensity score-matched, retrospective cohort study of a national administrative inpatient database in Japan from July 2010 to March 2018.Setting: Six hundred sixty-six acute-care hospitals with ICU and/or HDU beds covering about 75% of all ICU beds and 70% of all HDU beds in Japan.Patients: Adult patients who were hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction and admitted to the ICU or HDU on the day of hospital admission. Propensity score-matching analysis was performed to compare the inhospital mortality between patients treated in the ICU and HDU on the day of hospital admission.Interventions: ICU or HDU admission on the day of hospital admission.Measurements and Main Results: Of 135,142 eligible patients, 89,382 (66%) were admitted to the ICU and 45,760 (34%) were admitted to the HDU on the day of admission. After propensity score matching, there was no statistically significant difference in inhospital mortality between the ICU and HDU groups (5.0% vs 5.5%; difference, -0.5%; 95% CI, -1.0% to 0.1%). In the subgroup analyses, inhospital mortality was significantly lower in the ICU group than that in the HDU group among patients with Killip class IV (25.6% vs 28.4%; difference, -2.9%; 95% CI, -5.4% to -0.3%), patients who underwent intubation (40.0% vs 46.6%; difference, -6.6%; 95% CI, -10.6% to -2.7%), and patients who received mechanical circulatory support (21.8% vs 24.7%; difference, -2.8%; 95% CI, -5.5% to -0.2%).Conclusions: Critical care in the ICU compared with that in the HDU was not associated with reduced inhospital mortality among the entire cohort of patients with acute myocardial infarction but was associated with reduced inhospital mortality among the subsets of patients with Killip class IV, intubation, or mechanical circulatory support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Early intensive care unit rehabilitation after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is evaluated using japanese inpatient data. • Early rehabilitation did not change activities of daily living at discharge. • Early rehabilitation significantly shortened the hospital stay length. • Early cardiac rehabilitation might be safe to introduce after AMI. The effects and safety of early rehabilitation in intensive care units (ICU) remain unclear for patients after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Using Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination inpatient data between July 2010 and March 2018, we identified 31,603 adult patients with AMI who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention on the day of admission and who were admitted to the ICU for more than three consecutive days. Patients who started a rehabilitation program within three days of ICU admission were included in the early rehabilitation group, while others were included in the usual care group. The primary outcome was activities of daily living (ADL) at discharge, as measured using the Barthel Index score. We conducted inverse probability of treatment weighting analyses. The data of 31,603 patients were examined, 5,147 of whom were assigned to the early rehabilitation group. In the weighted cohort, the Barthel Index score at discharge was not significantly different between the two groups. The early rehabilitation group had a significantly shorter hospital stay, shorter ICU stay, and lower total hospitalization costs. No correlations were observed between early rehabilitation and ADL at discharge. However, the present results suggest that early rehabilitation is safe and associated with lower hospital costs and shorter hospital stays after AMI. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Daikenchuto, a Japanese herbal Kampo medicine, is used to improve gastrointestinal motility in critically ill patients with enteral feeding intolerance (EFI) in Japan. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of Daikenchuto for critically ill patients with EFI. Methods: Using the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination inpatient database from July 2010 to March 2018, we identified mechanically ventilated patients in intensive care units (ICUs) who had EFI during mechanical ventilation. We defined EFI as receipt of intravenous metoclopramide during mechanical ventilation. Patients who started Daikenchuto within 2 days of EFI onset were defined as the Daikenchuto group, and the remaining patients were defined as the control group. Propensity score–matched analyses were performed to compare the outcomes between the 2 groups. Results: A total of 61,454 patients were included. Of these, 8842 patients (14%) were in the Daikenchuto group. One‐to‐one propensity score matching created 8701 matched pairs. After propensity score matching, the total number of days receiving enteral nutrition within 28 days of EFI onset was significantly longer in the Daikenchuto group than in the control group (risk difference, 0.9 days; 95% CI, 0.5–1.3 days). There were no significant differences in 28‐day in‐hospital mortality, hospital‐acquired pneumonia, ventilator‐free days, length of ICU stay, time to discharge alive, and adverse complications. Conclusion: This nationwide observational study suggested that use of Daikenchuto may increase the total number of days receiving enteral nutrition in mechanically ventilated patients with EFI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The epidemiology of chronic critical illness is not well known. We aimed to estimate the prevalence, mortality, and costs associated with chronic critical illness in Japan.Design: A nationwide inpatient administrative database study in Japan from April 2011 to March 2018.Setting: Six hundred seventy-nine acute-care hospitals with ICU beds in Japan.Patients: Adult patients who met our definition for chronic critical illness: one of six eligible clinical conditions (prolonged acute mechanical ventilation, tracheotomy, stroke, traumatic brain injury, sepsis, and severe wound) plus at least 8 consecutive days in an ICU.Interventions: None.Measurements and Main Results: Among 2,395,016 ICU admissions during the study period, 216,434 (9.0%) met the definition for chronic critical illness. The most common eligible condition was prolonged acute mechanical ventilation (73.9%), followed by sepsis (50.6%), tracheostomy (23.8%), and stroke (22.8%). Overall inhospital mortality was 28.6%. The overall age-specific population prevalence was 42.0 per 100,000. The age-specific population prevalence steadily increased with age, reaching 109.6 per 100,000 in persons aged greater than 85 years. With extrapolation to national estimates in Japan, there were 47,729 chronic critical illness cases in 2011 and the number remained similar at 46,494 cases in 2017. Hospitalization costs increased gradually, rising from U.S.$2.3 billion in 2011 to U.S.$2.7 billion in 2017. Inhospital mortality decreased from 30.6% to 28.2%, whereas the proportion of patients with total/severe dependence increased from 29.6% to 33.2% and the proportion of patients with decreased consciousness at discharge increased from 18.7% to 19.6%.Conclusions: Using a nationwide inpatient database in Japan, we found substantial clinical and economic burdens of chronic critical illness in Japan. Chronic critical illness was particularly common in elderly people. Although inhospital mortality of chronic critical illness patients continues to decrease, costs and patients with dependence for activities of daily living or decreased consciousness at discharge are increasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of albumin administration on mortality in patients with severe burns. We retrospectively analyzed data from the Diagnosis Procedure Combination Database, a nationwide inpatient database in Japan. We identified patients in the database aged ≥ 15 years who were admitted with severe burns (burn index ≥15) from April 2014 to March 2021. We included patients who received albumin within 2 days of admission in the albumin group and those who did not in the control group. The outcome was the 28-day mortality. Eligible patients (n = 2492) were categorized into an albumin group (n = 1128) or a control group (n = 1364). One-to-one propensity score matching generated 530 pairs of patients with and without albumin administration. The 28-day mortality did not differ significantly between the two groups (albumin vs. control, 21.7 % vs. 22.8 %; risk difference, −1.1 %; 95 % confidence interval, −6.1 % to +3.9 %). These results suggest that albumin administration within 2 days of admission in patients with severe burns may not be associated with mortality during the acute phase. • Administering albumin within 2 days of admission to patients with severe burns was not associated with 28-day mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is unclear when to begin rehabilitation after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in the intensive care unit (ICU). Using the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination inpatient database from 2010 to 2018, we identified adult patients who underwent a CABG and who were admitted to the ICU for ≥3 consecutive days from the date of their CABG. Patients who started any rehabilitation program prescribed by physicians or therapists within 3 days of CABG were defined as the early rehabilitation group, and the remaining patients were defined as the usual care group. We identified 30,568 eligible patients, with 13,150 (43%) patients in the early rehabilitation group. An inverse probability of treatment weighting analyses showed that the Barthel Index score at discharge in the early rehabilitation group was significantly higher than that in the usual care group (difference: 3.2; 95% confidence interval: 1.5–4.8). The early rehabilitation group had significantly lower in-hospital mortality, total hospitalization costs, length of ICU stay, and hospital stay vs. the usual care group. Our results suggested that early rehabilitation by physicians or therapists beginning within 3 days of CABG was safe, as suggested by the low mortality and improved physical function in patients who underwent CABG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]