One-third of older adults die after emergency intubation

(HealthDay)—Of older adults who undergo intubation in the emergency department, 33 percent die during the index hospitalization, according to a study published recently in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Kei Ouchi, M.D., M.P.H., from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study involving adults aged 65 years and older intubated in the emergency department during 2008 to 2015 at 262 U.S. hospitals. A total of 41,463 emergency department intubation encounters were identified; 35,036 were included in the final analysis.

The researchers found that in-hospital mortality was 33 percent overall. Twenty-four and 41 percent of subjects were discharged to home and a location other than home, respectively. Mortality varied with age and was 29, 34, 40, 43, and 50 percent for those aged 65 to 74, 75 to 79, 80 to 84, 85 to 89, and 90 years and older, respectively.

"During shared decision-making, individuals aged 65 and older and their surrogates can be informed that, after intubation, the overall chance of survival and discharge to home after the index hospitalization is 24 percent," the authors write. "There is a 33 percent chance of in-hospital death and a 67 percent chance of survival to hospital discharge."