Organ function during early acute renal failure does not predict survival in long-term intensive care.

OBJECTIVE

To examine outcome in relation to organ function variables during early acute renal failure (ARF).

DESIGN

Retrospective inception cohort.

SETTING

General intensive care unit (ICU).

PATIENTS

69 consecutive ARF cases verified to have a creatinine clearance below 50 ml/min with no history of previous renal disease.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

ICU survival.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS

Septic severity score (SSS), creatinine clearance, thrombocyte count, bilirubin concentration, cardiac inotropic support, PaO2/FIO2 ratio and oliguria were measured. No differences related to outcome were observed in patients surviving more than 7 days after ARF diagnosis. Patients dying within 7 days of ARF had a significantly higher (worse) SSS. Organ dysfunction was established at the time of ICU admission in the majority of cases.

CONCLUSION

The organ function variables tested in this study are of limited predictive value during the early stage of ARF.