Resource allocation in neonatal and medical ICUs: epidemiology and rationing at the extremes of life

摘要

This study compared resource allocation to patients who eventually die in neonatal ICUs (NICUs) and adult medical ICUs (MICUs). It was performed via retrospective, chart review study at ICUs at the Uni- versity of Chicago-an inner city, tertiary care, academic medical center. All patients were admitted to the neonatal, general medical, or coronary ICU during 1 calendar yr. Overall mortality in the NICU (66/827;7.9/100) was significantly lower than in the adult ICUs (219/1320;16.5/100) (p <0.001). How- ever, mortality for the smallest newborns (< 751 g; 51/100 mortality) was higher than for the oldest adults (> 84 yr; 30/100 mortality) (p = 0.05).