Interhospital transfers of the critically ill: Time spent at referring institutions influences survival.

OBJECTIVE

To determine if the length of stay at a referring institution intensive care unit (ICU) before transfer to a tertiary/quaternary care facility is a risk factor for mortality.

DESIGN

We performed a retrospective chart review of patients transferred to our ICU from referring institution ICUs over a 3-year period. Logistical regression analysis was performed to determine which factors were independently associated with increased mortality. The primary outcomes were ICU and hospital mortality.

MAIN RESULTS

A total of 1248 patients were included in our study. Length of stay at the referring institution was an independent risk factor for both ICU and hospital mortality (P<.0001), with increasing lengths of stay correlating with increased mortality. Each additional day at the referring institution was associated with a 1.04 increase in likelihood of ICU mortality (95% confidence interval, 1.02-1.06; P =0.001) and a 1.029 (95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.05; P .005) increase in likelihood of hospital mortality.

CONCLUSIONS

Length of stay at the referring institution before transfer is a risk factor for worse outcomes, with longer stays associated with increased likelihood of mortality. Further studies delineating which factors most affect length of stay at referring institutions, though a difficult task, should be pursued.