Country, author, year | Percent of transferred patients of all ICU admissions | Transfer population | Transfer modality | Main findings |
---|---|---|---|---|
USA[3] (Rosenberg et al., Ann Intern Med 2003, 138(11):882–90) | 23% | Medical | Not reported | Risk adjusted mortality was higher in transferred patients compared with direct admissions. |
France[4] (Combes et al., Crit Care Med 2005, 33(4):705–10) | 17% | Medical | Not reported | ICU mortality and SMR was higher for transferred patients compared with direct admissions. |
Canada[5] (Hill et al., J Crit Care 2007, 22(4):290–5) | 20.5% | Medical and trauma | Ground ambulance | Crude ICU and hospital mortality rates were significantly higher in transfer patients compared with patients with direct admission from ED. Adjusted analysis was significant only for ICU mortality but not for hospital mortality. |
USA[7] (Golestanian et al., Crit Care Med 2007, 35(6):1470–6) | 12% | Medical, surgical, and trauma | Not reported | Risk adjusted mortality was similar in transferred and nontransferred patients. Adjusted length of stay was significantly longer only in the transferred group of patients and greater hospital expenditure was associated with transferred patients. |
Canada[6] (Sampalis et al., J Trauma 1997, 43(2):288–95; 295–6) | 37% | Trauma | Air and ground ambulance | Adjusted mortality was higher in patients transferred from other hospitals compared to direct admission to a Level I trauma centre. Adjusted length of ICU and hospital stay was longer in transferred patients compared to direct admissions. |
Saudi Arabia (our study) | 8% | Medical, surgical, and trauma | Air and ground ambulance | Crude hospital and ICU mortality was lower in transferred patients compared with hospital ward patients. However, transferred patients had similar risk-adjusted mortality compared with nontransferred patients. |