RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Propensity-Adjusted Comparison of Mortality of Elderly Versus Very Elderly Ventilated Patients JF Respiratory Care FD American Association for Respiratory Care SP 814 OP 821 DO 10.4187/respcare.08547 VO 66 IS 5 A1 Bernhard Wernly A1 Raphael Romano Bruno A1 Fernando Frutos-Vivar A1 Oscar Peñuelas A1 Richard Rezar A1 Konstantinos Raymondos A1 Alfonso Muriel A1 Bin Du A1 Arnaud W Thille A1 Fernando Ríos A1 Marco González A1 Lorenzo del-Sorbo A1 Maria del Carmen Marín A1 Bruno Valle Pinheiro A1 Marco Antonio Soares A1 Nicolas Nin A1 Salvatore M Maggiore A1 Andrew Bersten A1 Malte Kelm A1 Pravin Amin A1 Nahit Cakar A1 Gee Young Suh A1 Fekri Abroug A1 Manuel Jibaja A1 Dimitros Matamis A1 Amine Ali Zeggwagh A1 Yuda Sutherasan A1 Bertrand Guidet A1 Dylan W De Lange A1 Michael Beil A1 Sigal Svri A1 Vernon van Heerden A1 Hans Flaatten A1 Antonio Anzueto A1 Venet Osmani A1 Andrés Esteban A1 Christian Jung YR 2021 UL http://rc.rcjournal.com/content/66/5/814.abstract AB BACKGROUND: The growing proportion of elderly intensive care patients constitutes a public health challenge. The benefit of critical care in these patients remains unclear. We compared outcomes in elderly versus very elderly subjects receiving mechanical ventilation.METHODS: In total, 5,557 mechanically ventilated subjects were included in our post hoc retrospective analysis, a subgroup of the VENTILA study. We divided the cohort into 2 subgroups on the basis of age: very elderly subjects (age ≥ 80 y; n = 1,430), and elderly subjects (age 65–79 y; n = 4,127). A propensity score on being very elderly was calculated. Evaluation of associations with 28-d mortality was done with logistic regression analysis.RESULTS: Very elderly subjects were clinically sicker as expressed by higher SAPS II scores (53 ± 18 vs 50 ± 18, P < .001), and their rates of plateau pressure < 30 cm H2O were higher, whereas other parameters did not differ. The 28-d mortality was higher in very elderly subjects (42% vs 34%, P < .001) and remained unchanged after propensity score adjustment (adjusted odds ratio 1.31 [95% CI 1.16–1.49], P < .001).CONCLUSIONS: Age was an independent and unchangeable risk factor for death in mechanically ventilated subjects. However, survival rates of very elderly subjects were > 50%. Denial of critical care based solely on age is not justified. (ClinicalTrials.gov registration NCT02731898.)