Acute cardiac care & resuscitationCohort study
Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Older Patients Admitted to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
- multicenter, international registry of cardiac intensive care units (CICUs)
- annual ≥2-month snapshots of consecutive medical CICU admissions
Authors' conclusion
Patients ≥85 years in contemporary CICUs experience survival comparable to those aged 75-<85 years, except in the setting of cardiac arrest. These findings support consideration of factors beyond chronological age in CICU triage and treatment decisions.
Study context
- Population
- Consecutive medical CICU admissions, 2017–2024admissions from 50 sites
- Participants
- 35,265 admissions
- Exposure
- older patients admitted to the CICU compared with younger adults
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Age distribution of admissions
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | adjusted OR (CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| In-hospital mortality — 65-<75 vs <65 | 1.53 (1.40–1.67) | |
| In-hospital mortality — 75-<85 vs <65 | 1.83 (1.67–2.01) | |
| In-hospital mortality — ≥85 vs <65 | 1.95 (1.72–2.22) | |
| In-hospital mortality among cardiac arrest patients (subgroup) | 3.09 (2.24–4.26) | |
| 0.20.5125Adjusted odds ratio (log scale) |
| Outcome | <65 | 65-<75 | 75-<85 | ≥85 | Estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Use of mechanical circulatory support | Not reported in the abstract | Not reported in the abstract | Not reported in the abstract | 5.5% |
- Use of mechanical circulatory support: lowest use; consisted exclusively of intra-aortic balloon pumps
- In-hospital mortality: adjusted for sex, illness severity (SOFA score), lactate, and kidney function
- In-hospital mortality among cardiac arrest patients (subgroup): among cardiac arrest patients; increase in mortality with age was steeper
Most common admission diagnosis
- Acute coronary syndrome was the most common admission diagnosis among all age groups
Original publication
Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Older Patients Admitted to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. JACC Adv. doi:10.1016/j.jacadv.2026.102830
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it