Outcomes of Intensive Care Unit Patients with a Discharge Diagnosis of Critical Illness Polyneuromyopathy: A Propensity Matched Analysis

To assess the impact of a discharge diagnosis of critical illness polyneuromyopathy on health-related outcomes in a large cohort of patients requiring ICU admission.Retrospective cohort with propensity score-matched analysis.Analysis of a large multihospital database.Adult ICU patients without preexisting neuromuscular abnormalities and a discharge diagnosis of critical illness polyneuropathy and/or myopathy along with adult ICU propensity-matched control patients.None.Of 3,567 ICU patients with a discharge diagnosis of critical illness polyneuropathy and/or myopathy, we matched 3,436 of these patients to 3,436 ICU patients who did not have a discharge diagnosis of critical illness polyneuropathy and/or myopathy. After propensity matching and adjusting for unbalanced covariates, we used conditional logistic regression and a repeated measures model to compare patient outcomes. Compared to patients without a discharge diagnosis of critical illness polyneuropathy and/or myopathy, patients with a discharge diagnosis of critical illness polyneuropathy and/or myopathy had fewer 28-day hospital-free days (6 [0.1] vs 7.4 [0.1] d; p0.0001), had fewer 28-day ventilator-free days (15.7 [0.2] vs 17.5 [0.2] d; p0.0001), had higher hospitalization charges (313,508 [4,853] vs 256,288 [4,470] dollars; p0.0001), and were less likely to be discharged home (15.3% vs 32.8%; p0.0001) but had lower in-hospital mortality (13.7% vs 18.3%; p0.0001).In a propensity-matched analysis of a large national database, a discharge diagnosis of critical illness polyneuropathy and/or myopathy is strongly associated with deleterious outcomes including fewer hospital-free days, fewer ventilator-free days, higher hospital charges, and reduced discharge home but also an unexpectedly lower in-hospital mortality. This study demonstrates the clinical importance of a discharge diagnosis of critical illness polyneuropathy and/or myopathy and the need for effective preventive interventions.