Recovery Rate and Prognosis in Older Persons Who Develop Acute Lung Injury and the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Abstract

Although the survival rate among patients 70 years of age or older was high, these patients were twice as likely to die of acute lung injury compared with their younger counterparts, even after adjustment for covariates. Older survivors recovered from respiratory failure and achieved spontaneous breathing at the same rate as younger patients but had greater difficulty achieving liberation from the ventilator and being discharged from the intensive care unit.