Introduction: As new treatments have become established, more frail pre-ICU patients are being admitted to intensive care units (ICUs); this is creating new challenges to provide adequate care and to ensure that resources are allocated in an ethical and economical manner. This systematic review evaluates the current standard for assessing frailty on the ICU, including methods of assessment, time point of measurements, and cut-offs. Methods: A systematic search was conducted on MEDLINE, Clinical Trials, Cochrane Library, and Embase. Randomized and non-randomized controlled studies were included that evaluated diagnostic tools and ICU outcomes for frailty. Exclusion criteria were the following: studies without baseline assessment of frailty on ICU admission, studies in paediatric patients or pregnant women, and studies that targeted very narrow populations of ICU patients. Eligible articles were included until January 31, 2021. Methodological quality was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. No meta-analysis was performed, due to heterogeneity. Results: N = 57 articles (253,376 patients) were included using 19 different methods to assess frailty or a surrogate. Frailty on ICU admission was most frequently detected using the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) (n = 35, 60.3%), the Frailty Index (n = 5, 8.6%), and Fried’s frailty phenotype (n = 6, 10.3%). N = 22 (37.9%) studies assessed functional status. Cut-offs, time points, and manner of baseline assessment of frailty on ICU admission varied widely. Frailty on ICU admission was associated with short- and long-term mortality, functional and cognitive impairment, increased health care dependency, and impaired quality of life post-ICU discharge. Conclusions: Frailty assessment on the ICU is heterogeneous with respect to methods, cut-offs, and time points. The CFS may best reflect frailty in the ICU. Frailty assessments should be harmonized and performed routinely in the critically ill.

Objective: Patients with heart failure (HF) and cardiogenic shock are especially prone to the negative effects of fluid overload (FO); however, fluid resuscitation in respective patients is sometimes necessary resulting in FO. We aimed to study the association of FO at ICU discharge with 30-day mortality in patients admitted to the ICU due to severe heart failure and/or cardiogenic shock.Methods: Retrospective, single-center cohort study. Patients with admission diagnoses of severe HF and/or cardiogenic shock were eligible. The following exclusion criteria were applied: (I) patients younger than 16 years, (II) patients admitted to our intermediate care unit, and (III) patients with incomplete data to determine FO at ICU discharge. We used a cumulative weight-adjusted definition of fluid balance and defined more than 5% as FO. The data were analyzed by univariate and adjusted univariate logistic regression.Results: We included 2,158 patients in our analysis. 185 patients (8.6%) were fluid overloaded at ICU discharge. The mean FO in the FO group was 7.2% [interquartile range (IQR) 5.8–10%]. In patients with FO at ICU discharge, 30-day mortality was 22.7% compared to 11.7% in non-FO patients (p < 0.001). In adjusted univariate logistic regression, we did not observe any association of FO at discharge with 30-day mortality [odds ratio (OR) 1.48; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.81–2.71, p = 0.2]. No association between FO and 30-day mortality was found in the subgroups with HF only or cardiogenic shock (all p > 0.05). Baseline lactate (adjusted OR 1.27; 95% CI 1.13–1.42; p < 0.001) and cardiac surgery at admission (adjusted OR 1.94; 95% CI 1.0–3.76; p = 0.05) were the main associated factors with FO at ICU discharge.Conclusion: In patients admitted to the ICU due to severe HF and/or cardiogenic shock, FO at ICU discharge seems not to be associated with 30-day mortality.

Objective: Postoperative acute kidney injury (po-AKI) is frequently observed after major vascular surgery and impacts on mortality rates. Early identification of po-AKI patients using the novel urinary biomarkers insulin-like growth factor-binding-protein 7 (IGFBP7) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-2 (TIMP-2) might help in early identification of individuals at risk of AKI and enable timely introduction of preventative or therapeutic interventions with the aim of reducing the incidence of po-AKI. We investigated whether biomarker-based monitoring would allow for early detection of po-AKI in patients undergoing abdominal aortic interventions. Methods: In an investigator-initiated prospective single-center observational study in a tertiary care academic center, adult patients with emergency/ elective abdominal aortic repair were included. Patients were tested for concentrations of urinary (TIMP-2) x (IGFBP7) at baseline, after surgical interventions (PO), and in the mornings of the first postoperative day (POD1). The primary endpoint was a difference in urinary (TIMP-2) x (IGFBP7) levels at POD1 in patients with/ without po-AKI (all KDIGO stages, po-AKI until seven days after surgery). Secondary endpoints included sensitivity/ specificity analyses of previously proposed cut-off levels and clinical outcome measures (e.g. need for renal replacement therapy). Results: 93 patients (n = 71 open surgery) were included. Po-AKI was observed in 33% (31/93) of patients. Urinary (TIMP-2) x (IGFBP7) levels at POD1 did not differ between patients with/ without AKI (median 0.39, interquartile range [IQR] 0.13–1.05 and median 0.23, IQR 0.14–0.53, p = .11, respectively) and PO (median 0.2, IQR 0.08–0.42, 0.18, IQR 0.09–0.46; p = .79). Higher median (TIMP-2) x (IGFBP7) levels were noted in KDIGO stage 3 pAKI patients at POD1 (3.75, IQR 1.97–6.92; p = .003). Previously proposed cutoff levels (0.3, 2) showed moderate sensitivity/ specificity (0.58/0.58 and 0.16/0.98, respectively). Conclusion: In a prospective monocentric observational study in patients after abdominal aortic repair, early assessment of urinary (TIMP-2) x (IGFBP7) did not appear to have adequate sensitivity/ specificity to identify patients that later developed postoperative AKI. Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT03469765, registered March 19, 2018.

Maintenance and hidden/creep fluids are a major source of fluid and sodium intake in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Recent research indicates that low versus high sodium content maintenance fluids could decrease fluid and sodium burden. We conducted a systematic review (SR) with meta-analysis to summarize the impact of maintenance fluid choice on total daily sodium in ICU patients. Systematic literature search in Pubmed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and the. Only controlled clinical trials were included. trials on resuscitation fluids, performed in the emergency department only and in pediatric patients. Primary objective was the reduction in mean total sodium intake with low versus high sodium content maintenance/creep fluids. Five studies (1105 patients) were included. Heterogeneity was high.Risk of bias was moderate. Mean daily sodium reduction was 117 mmol (95%Confidence Interval [CI] -174; -59; p < 0.001) with low versus high sodium content maintenance/creep fluids. Incidence of hyperchloremia was lower (OR 0.26; 95%CI 0.1; 0.64) with low sodium. There were no differences in the incidences of hyper-/hyponatremia and fluid balances. Using low sodium content maintenance/creep fluids substantially reduces daily sodium burden in adult ICU patients. Significant knowledge/research gaps exist regarding relevance and safety. PROSPERO 2022 CRD42022300577 (February 2022).