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Conditions that may require intensive care

Almost any illness or serious accident can lead to admission to intensive care. More than 30 million patients are estimated to be admitted to intensive care units worldwide each year.

Common reasons for admission to intensive care

The most common reasons for admission to intensive care include:

  • Sepsis: This is an inappropriate response by the body’s immune system to an infection. Any infection can develop into sepsis, which may cause multiple organs to fail; the risk of death increases with the number of organs affected. Critical care aims to monitor and treat the infection, while closely observing any organ failure and temporarily supporting or replacing failing functions when necessary, for example through dialysis or mechanical ventilation (artificial breathing). Sepsis is a major public health issue and has been recognised as such by the World Health Organization since 1 June 2017.
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  • Cardiovascular diseases and their complications (including cardiac arrest, heart attack, severe heart failure and stroke): More than 26 million people worldwide are currently affected by heart failure, and around 350,000 cardiac arrests occur outside hospital in Europe each year. Following a cardiac arrest, patients require critical care to support organs affected by the interruption of blood flow and oxygen supply during asystole, when the heart stops completely. This support gives the organs time to recover and helps protect the brain.
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  • Cancers and haematological malignancies: As their incidence continues to rise, cancers affect around one in five patients admitted to critical care. Critical care provides these patients with the close monitoring they need and the organ support required to overcome severe complications caused by the underlying cancer or its treatment, which may also make them particularly vulnerable to infection.
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  • Acute and chronic respiratory failure: Every year, more than 15 million patients receive mechanical ventilation in intensive care for life-threatening respiratory failure, whatever its cause. Causes include COVID-19, infectious pneumonia, influenza, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), neurological disorders and the treatment of shock.
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  • Accidents and trauma: Road accidents and other incidents such as mountain accidents, serious falls, violence, drowning, poisoning and severe burns cause more than five million deaths worldwide each year. These patients are generally first admitted to a resuscitation or trauma bay, then treated in the operating theatre if necessary, before receiving medium- or longer-term critical care until they are stable enough to move to a less intensive level of monitoring and care.
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  • Postoperative care following major surgery: After certain major, high-risk operations, or after surgery complicated by an event such as severe bleeding leading to haemorrhagic shock, a patient may be admitted to intensive care for close monitoring and temporary organ support while their body recovers.
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  • Neurological disorders and coma: Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are affected by neurological disorders. Head injury, a severe and prolonged seizure, a brain tumour or a ruptured aneurysm can all cause coma and require admission to intensive care.