Skip to main content

Table 2 Prevalence (in percentages) of non-traumatic coma etiologies

From: The etiology and outcome of non-traumatic coma in critical care: a systematic review

Study reference

 

Esquevin [6]

Forsberg [9]

Weiss [18]

Greer [14]

Hamel† [19]

Sacco [16]

Levy [15]

Tokuda [17]

Owolabi [12]

Obiako [10]

Sinclair [13]

Matuja [11]

Structural

Stroke1

54

24

6

49

51

365

37

29

24

33

22

13

 

CNS infection

2

2

3

-

6

-

-

-

14

10

19

51

 

Malignancy

3

2

-

-

3

-

-

<1

2

3

1

-

 

Other neurological causes

-

-

1

-

-

7

-

11

-

-

1

-

Metabolic/Non-structural

Poisoning

-

39

19

-

<1

-

-

32

-

1

15

4

 

Epilepsy

5

13

7

-

-

-

-

2

4

-

-

-

 

Post-anoxic coma

3

7

23

40

31

36

42

-

-

4

-

-

 

Respiratory

-

4

8

-

-

-

-

5

-

-

-

-

 

Infection

-

4

-

-

9

-

-

4

19

11

-

-

 

Metabolic2

314

4

14

-

1

22

-

8

21

29

6

5

 

Hepatic encephalopathy

-

<1

-

2

-

-

10

2

8

6

1

20

 

Shock

-

-

21

-

<1

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

 

Unclassified3

-

-

<1

-

-

-

-

2

8

-

22

-

 

Miscellaneous

3

-

1

8

14

-

12

<1

-

-

-

8

 

Eclampsia

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

13

-

  1. 1Stroke includes cerebral infarction, intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage.
  2. 2The term metabolic includes endocrine, ionic and acid–base disorders and metabolic brain dysfunction (uremic encephalopathy).
  3. 3Unclassified means that it was not possible to label the event with a diagnosis.
  4. 4Includes poisoning, metabolic or immune disorders and respiratory failure.
  5. 5Percentage reflects focal (brain tumour, abscess, infarct, intraparenchymal hemorrhage) and generalized cerebral (meningitis, hydrocephalus, intraventricular hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage) events.
  6. † More than one coma etiology could be scored in the study, resulting in a total percentage > 100%.
Back to article page

BMC Anesthesiology

ISSN: 1471-2253

Contact us