• J L Vincent, Y Sakr, and V M Ranieri.
• Department of Intensive Care, Erasme Hospital, Free University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium.
• Crit. Care Med. 2003 Apr 1; 31 (4 Suppl): S296-9.

ObjectivesTo summarize the prevalence of various forms of acute respiratory failure in acutely ill patients and review the major factors involved in the outcome of these patients.Data Sources And SelectionMEDLINE search for published studies reporting the prevalence or outcome for patients with acute respiratory failure and cited reference studies and abstracts from a recent international meeting in the intensive care medicine field.Data Synthesis And ExtractionFrom the selected articles, information was obtained regarding the prevalence of acute respiratory failure, including acute respiratory distress syndrome and acute lung injury as defined by the North American-European Consensus Conference, the outcome, and the factors influencing mortality rates in this population of patients.ConclusionsThe prevalence of acute respiratory failure varies according to the definition used and the population studied. Nonsurvivors of acute respiratory distress syndrome die predominantly of respiratory failure in <20% of cases. The relatively high mortality rates of acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome are primarily related to the underlying disease, the severity of the acute illness, and the degree of organ dysfunction.

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