Intra-abdominal hypertension is common in both surgical and nonsurgical patients in the intensive care setting and was found to be independently associated with mortality. Despite prior reports to the contrary, intra-abdominal hypertension develops in nonventilated patients and in patients who do not have intra-abdominal hypertension at admission. Intra-abdominal pressure monitoring is inexpensive, provides valuable clinical information, and there may be a role for its routine measurement in the ICU. Future work should evaluate the impact of early interventions for patients with intra-abdominal hypertension.

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