Study: ICU used more by dying in U.S. than in England

Study: ICU used more by dying in U.S. than in England

A new study shows that patients with terminal illness are significantly more likely to be treated in intensive care units in the United States than they are in England.

The study, published in October, 2009, in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, found in a retrospective cohort study of the year 2001 that only 5.1% of all deaths in England involved intensive care, while 17.2% of all deaths in the United States involved intensive care.