D Matamis

K Marmanidou

M Oikonomou

S Savvidou

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POSTER PRESENTATION Open Access
An observational study on the impact of the
socio-economic crisis in greece on ICU patient
recruitment
S Savvidou*, K Marmanidou, M Oikonomou, D Matamis
From ESICM LIVES 2015
Berlin, Germany. 3-7 October 2015
Introduction
The recent ongoing financial crisis in Greece has
resulted in an overall significant reduction in road traffic
accidents, severe injuries and deaths. [1] On the other
hand, there is conflicting data about the rate of suicides
and suicidal attempts [2], [3].
Objectives
To investigate the impact of the Greek socioeconomic
crisis that started in 2010 on the ICU and hospital
admissions due to traffic accident related multiple
trauma (MT) and admissions after suicidal attempt (SA).
Methods
“Papageorgiou” General Hospital is one of the four
major hospitals of Thessaloniki, the second largest
Greek city of 1.2 million inhabitants. Data was extracted
from hospital databases (ICD-10 diagnoses V01-V89 for
MT and X60-X84 for SA) from the year 2008 to 2014.
Several variables concerning patient demographics,
APACHE and SAPS II scores, length of ICU stay (LOS)
and outcome were recorded and further statistically ana-
lyzed using c[2], Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis
tests.
Results
During 2008-2014 the hospital has welcomed an average
of 100.2+4.7x103 patients annually, with an increasing
trend. The general adult multidisciplinary ICU has
10 beds, 92.4% percentage of mechanically ventilated
patients and an average admission rate of 392.4+41.6
patients per year. Over the study period, 262 patients
with MT and 66 patients after SA were admitted in
ICU. MT patients were 79.8% males, mean age 40+19.3
years old, median LOS 10 days (interquartile range
4-22), mean APACHE score 10.9+6.6, mean SAPS II
37.6+16.7, overall mortality 16.8% with 48h mortality of
7.6%. SA patients were 62.1% females, mean age
43.1+15, median LOS 2 days (interquartile range 1-4),
mean APACHE score 13.3+7.3, mean SAPS II
44.7+13.8,overall mortality 9.1% with 48h mortality of
6.1%. There was a significant decrease (-45.5% in total
or -7.59% per year) in the admission rate of MT along
with a significant increase (+68.9% in total or +11.49%
per year) in the admission rate of SA (actual numbers
and trend-lines shown in Figure 1). Statistical analysis
revealed associations of mortality with age (p = 0.001
’Papageorgiou’ General Hospital of Thessaloniki, ICU, Thessaloniki, Greece
Figure 1
Savvidou et al. Intensive Care Medicine Experimental 2015, 3(Suppl 1):A137
http://www.icm-experimental.com/content/3/S1/A137
© 2015 Savvidou et al.; This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited.
for MT and p = 0.016 for SA) and with both scoring
systems (p < 0.001). No statistical significant differences
of gender, age, LOS and mortality were recorded over
time.
Conclusions
The financial crisis in Greece has resulted in a gradual
and ongoing decrease in ICU admissions of patients
with multiple trauma after severe traffic accident and a
parallel increase in admissions after suicidal attempt.
Overall mortality has been kept constant over time.
Published: 1 October 2015
References
1. Michas G, et al: Road traffic accidents in Greece: have we benefited for
the financial crisis? J Epidemiol Community Health 2013, 67:894.
2. Vlachadis N, et al: Greece’s economic crisis and suicide rates: overview
and outlook. J Epidemiol Community Health 2014, 1-2.
3. Fountoulakis KN, et al: Rate of suicide and suicide attempts in
Thessaloniki Greece (2000-2012). J Affect Disord 2015, 174:131-6.
doi:10.1186/2197-425X-3-S1-A137
Cite this article as: Savvidou et al.: An observational study on the
impact of the socio-economic crisis in greece on ICU patient
recruitment. Intensive Care Medicine Experimental 2015 3(Suppl 1):A137.
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Savvidou et al. Intensive Care Medicine Experimental 2015, 3(Suppl 1):A137
http://www.icm-experimental.com/content/3/S1/A137
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AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CRISIS IN GREECE ON ICU PATIENT RECRUITMENT

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AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CRISIS IN GREECE ON ICU PATIENT RECRUITMENT

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