Refusal of Intensive Care Unit Admission Due to a Full Unit

Rationale: Intensive care unit (ICU) beds are a scarce resource, and patients denied intensive care only because the unit is full may be at increased risk of death.Objective: To compare mortality after first ICU referral in admitted patients and in patients denied admission because the unit was full.Methods: Prospective observational multicenter cohort study of consecutive patients referred for ICU admission during two 45-day periods, conducted in 10 ICUs.Measurements and Main Results: Of 1,762 patients, 430 were excluded from the study, 116 with previously denied admission to another ICU and 270 because they were deemed too sick or too well to benefit from ICU admission. Of the remaining 1,332 patients, 1,139 were admitted, and 193 were denied admission because the unit was full (65 were never admitted, 39 were admitted after bumping of another patient, and 89 were admitted on subsequent referral). Crude Day 28 and Day 60 mortality rates in the nonadmitted and admitted groups were 30.1 versus 24.3% (P = ...