Dying in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU): A Retrospective Descriptive Analysis of Deaths in the ICU in a Communal Tertiary Hospital in Germany

Table 1

Characteristics of patients dying in the ICU/IMC in 2011 and 2012. Numbers are shown as absolute numbers n and percentage (%) of all patients dying in ICU/IMC in 2011 and 2012.

Patients’ characteristics		n	%
Sex	Male	266	54.4
	Female	233	47.6
Age (years)	18–29	4	0.8
	30–39	5	1.0
	40–49	19	3.9
	50–59	34	7.0
	60–69	75	15.3
	70–79	163	33.3
	80–89	161	32.9
	≥90	28	5.7
Speciality	Cardiology/pneumology	257	52.6
	Visceral/thoracic surgery	93	19.0
	Gastroenterology	39	8.0
	Vascular surgery	31	6.3
	Trauma/orthopaedic surgery	26	5.3
	Neurology	22	4.5
	Hemato oncology	19	3.9
	Gynaecology	1	0.2
	Paediatrics	1	0.2
Ward	Medical ICU	225	46.0
	Surgical ICU/IMC	179	36.6
	Medical IMC	85	17.4
Religion	Unknown	245	50.1
	Protestant	141	28.8
	Roman Catholic	87	17.8
	Without religious affiliation	5	1.0
	Jehovah’s witnesses	4	0.8
	Muslim	4	0.8
	Others	3	0.6
Main diagnosis	Cardiovascular	135	27.6
	Intensive care complex treatment	97	19.8
	Respiratory system	61	12.4
	Gastrointestinal	45	9.2
	Urology	27	5.5
	Infectious, parasitic diseases	26	5.3
	Hepatobiliar, pancreatic	22	4.5
	Musculoskeletal	22	4.5
	CNS	21	4.3
	Hemato-oncology	12	2.4
	Endocrinology	8	1.6
	Dermatology	3	0.6
	Severely, multiple injured	3	0.6
	Others	2	0.4
	Hematology	2	0.4
	Eye	1	0.2
	Gynaecology	1	0.2
	Intoxication	1	0.2
Weekday of death	Monday	76	15.5
	Tuesday	71	14.5
	Wednesday	68	13.9
	Thursday	72	14.7
	Friday	69	14.1
	Saturday	71	14.5
	Sunday	62	12.7
Day-time/hour of death	0–4	77	15.7
	4–8	64	13.1
	8–12	81	16.6
	12–16	75	15.3
	16–20	92	18.8
	20–24	100	20.4
Days in the IMC/ICU	0–9	409	83.6
	10–19	52	10.6
	20–29	12	2.5
	30–39	7	1.4
	40–49	4	0.8
	50–59	2	0.4
	60–69	2	0.4
	70–79	1	0.2
Hours ventilated	0	169	34.6
	1–99	203	41.5
	100–199	49	10.0
	200–299	16	3.3
	300–399	16	3.3
	400–499	9	1.8
	500–599	6	1.2
	600–699	7	1.4
	700–799	3	0.6
	800–899	2	0.4
	900–999	4	0.8
	≥ 1000	5	1.0