Skin lesions in the ICU.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study is to identify the dermatological disorders (DDs) responsible for the most common skin lesions in the ICU, their incidence and their impact on mortality, degree of severity and length of stay in the ICU.

DESIGN AND SETTING

We performed a 2-year prospective study in a general medical and surgical ICU including, exceptionally, paediatric cases.

PATIENTS

We included all patients who presented skin lesions upon admission or developed them during their ICU stay.

RESULTS

Forty-six patients (10% of all admissions) were enrolled, with 51 DDs. SAPS II score (43) and mean length of stay (19 days) were significantly higher than in the general group of ICU admissions. Differences in mortality rates (26% versus 29%) were not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

DDs are entities that should be borne in mind in the critically ill patient; their incidence is by no means negligible and makes careful examination of the skin mandatory both on admission and during a patient's ICU stay.