Acute Renal Failure in Critically Ill PatientsA Multinational, Multicenter Study

Top Cited Papers
Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The epidemiology and outcome of acute renal failure (ARF) in critically ill patients in different regions of the world are not well understood. Although there have been several epidemiological studies of ARF,1-16 most are either single center1-3,6-8,12 or if multicenter are confined to a single country.4,5,9-11,13,15,16 The period prevalence and hospital mortality reported in these studies have varied widely (single-center studies: 1%-25%; multicenter studies: 39%-71%) and most studies are not comparable because they used different inclusion criteria. In 1 multinational study14 that collected data for a general severity scoring system and provided further but limited and indirect information about the epidemiology of ARF, more than 90% of participating centers were in Europe or North America. All studies of ARF have been conducted in Australia, Europe, or North America.