Introduction:

Invasive mechanical ventilation in geriatric patients admitted to intensive care units, is frequent and has a high lethality.

Objectives:

To characterize geriatric patients with invasive mechanical ventilation and their evolution in the intensive care unit.

Methods:

A descriptive study was carried out in 149 geriatric patients admitted to the intensive care unit. The variables studied were: age, sex, personal pathological history, APACHE II and SOFA indices, diagnostic profile, diagnosis on admission, application of tracheostomy, time of mechanical ventilation, status at discharge and complications. Percentage and frequencies were used as measurements; the possible association between the variables was evaluated.

Results:

The age of 70 to 79 years (44.9%) and the male sex (53,7 %) predominated. Mortality was 40,9 % and was associated with: elevated APACHE II and SOFA indices, surgical patients, and mechanical ventilation time greater than 7 days. The most frequent complications were: multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (23,4 %), ventilator-associated pneumonia (22,8 %) and acute renal failure (22,1 %).

Conclusions:

The characteristics were: age less than 80 years, most were male sex, history of chronic diseases and in the diagnosis at admission, urgent surgical conditions. Mortality was associated with female sex, surgical profile, severity of the disease, and time on mechanical ventilation. Complications were related to sepsis.

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