The epidemiology and outcome of critical illness in Mongolia: A multicenter, prospective, observational cohort study.

CONTEXT: The epidemiology and outcome of critical illness in Mongolia remain undefined.

AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the epidemiology and outcome of critical illness in Mongolia.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This is a multicenter, prospective, observational cohort study including 19 Mongolian centers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Demographic, clinical, and outcome data of patients >15 years admitted to the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) were collected during a 6-month period.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Descriptive methods, Mann-Whitney-U test, Fisher's exact or Chi-square test, and logistic regression analyses were used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS: Two thousand and thirty-two patients (53.6% male) with a median age of 49 years (36-62 years) were included. The most frequent ICU admission diagnoses were stroke (17.4%), liver failure (9.2%), heart failure (9%), infection (8.3%), severe trauma (7.5%), traumatic brain injury (7.1%), acute abdomen (7%), pre-eclampsia/eclampsia (5.8%), renal failure (3.9%), and postoperative care following elective and emergency surgeries (3.2%). ICU mortality was 23.5% in the study population and 26.6% when maternal cases were excluded. The five ICU admission diagnoses with the highest ICU mortality were lung tuberculosis (51.9%), traumatic brain injury (42.1%), liver failure (33.7%), stroke (31.9%), and infection (30.8%). The five ICU admission diagnoses causing most death cases were stroke (n = 113), liver failure (n = 63), traumatic brain injury (n = 61), infection (n = 52), and acute abdomen (n = 38).

CONCLUSION: Critical illness in Mongolia affects younger patients compared to high-income countries. ICU admission diagnoses are similar with a particularly high incidence of stroke and liver failure. ICU mortality is approximately 25% with most deaths caused by stroke, liver failure, and traumatic brain injury.