COPD exacerbations admitted to intensive care unit. Organization, mortality, and noninvasive or invasive mechanical ventilation strategies: are they sufficiently well known?

Antonio M Esquinas

Intensive Care Unit, Hospital Morales Meseguer, Murcia, Spain

We read with interest the survival analysis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients who are admitted to critical care units with exacerbation, conducted in Saudi Arabia by Alaithan et al.¹ This study makes an important contribution on the real practice of intensive care units (ICUs). The authors, in the overall results, provided some great information similar in some aspects to previous epidemiologic surveys where a low level of consciousness on admission, need for endotracheal intubation (ETI), being a current smoker, cardiopulmonary arrest, tracheostomy, and development of acute renal failure are associated with higher ICU and hospital mortality. Although, study design showed some limitations with respect to interpretation predictors of mortality, there are aspects that differ compared to previous studies in this area that could be taken into account for clinical and practical implications.

View original paper by Alaithan and colleagues.