Short patients’ greater risk in hospital

Shorter people have more chance of dying in hospital because doctors are failing to tailor treatment to their height, scientists have claimed.

A six-year study looked at the relationship between height and the chance of death among more than 400,000 critically ill patients at 210 intensive care units across the UK.

The shortest men and women had mortality rates of 29.2 and 24.1 per cent, respectively – which stood, for the tallest patients, at 21 and 17.1 per cent.

Survival chances rose incrementally for every 10cm increase in height. It is the first time the phenomenon has been identified – with the report concluding that it may well be because doctors take a ‘‘one-size-fits-all’’ approach to treatment.

Life-saving machines are often set as standard for a 1.7m man weighing 70kg 11st, while ventilators often have default settings for lung capacity that is set too high for many women and short men, the report’s authors stated.

Mechanically ventilated patients of a short stature are also not always given low-lung capacity ventilation systems in ICUs and operating theatres.The report also highlights an ‘‘inconsistent’’ approach to taking patients’ measurements.

Dr Hannah Wunsch, of Sunnybrook Hospital, Toronto, who wrote the report published in the Intensive Care Medicine journal, said that hospital staff also often fail to make height-based adjustments to treatment plans.

‘‘Many diagnostic and therapeutic interventions for critically ill adult patients are not performed according to patient size, but are standardised.

‘‘Even when therapies can be adjusted for patient size, observational studies have demonstrated that clinicians do not consistently do so.

‘‘Individuals at the extremes of height may require modifications of care that vary from conventional practice, creating challenges,’’ she added.