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Applied Physiology in Intensive Care Medicine 2 pp 183–189Cite as

Normalizing physiological variables in acute illness: five reasons for caution

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Abstract

Acute illness is accompanied by the development of abnormal physiology. The development and severity of illness, as well as recovery, is paralleled by changes in the physiological variables that clinicians commonly monitor. Several factors may prompt clinicians to address and treat the variables in isolation from addressing the underlying disease. This article explores why clinicians may target and attempt to normalize abnormal physiological variables and identifies five reasons why such an approach can be hazardous.

Keywords

  • Septic Shock
  • Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
  • Sequential Organ Failure Assessment
  • Acute Illness
  • Respir Crit

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Critical Care Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Brian P. Kavanagh & L. Joanne Meyer

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  1. Brian P. Kavanagh
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  2. L. Joanne Meyer
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Scaife Hall 606 3550 Terrace Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15261, USA

    Michael R. Pinsky MD

  2. Dept. Intensive Care Medicine, Hôpital Henri Mondor, 51 av. Maréchal Lattre de Tassigny, 94010, Créteil, CX, France

    Laurent Brochard MD

  3. Dept. Intensive Care Medicine, Hospital de Sant Pau, Avda. S. Antonio M. Claret 167, 08025, Barcelona, Spain

    Jordi Mancebo MD

  4. General Intensive Care Unit, Università Cattolica des Sacro Cuore, Largo A. Gemelli 8, 00168, Rome, Italy

    Massimo Antonelli

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Kavanagh, B.P., Meyer, L.J. (2012). Normalizing physiological variables in acute illness: five reasons for caution. In: Pinsky, M.R., Brochard, L., Mancebo, J., Antonelli, M. (eds) Applied Physiology in Intensive Care Medicine 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28233-1_18

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