Resource consumption and outcomes in Swedish intensive care. What can we learn from over 200 000 care episodes in the Swedish ICU registry?

Intensive care is a major consumer of healthcare resources, but no comprehensive analysis has been done on patient characteristics and outcomes among those treated in Swedish Intensive Care Units (ICU). Our project aims to cross-link data from the Swedish ICU Registry with data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, The National Boards for Health and Welfare and the Swedish Social Security Agency. One main scientific question is whether there are patients that consume a disproportionate amount of resources, and compare their characteristics and outcomes to low-cost patients. A few international efforts at analyzing this has been made but not in a national context.