Increasing age is a well-recognized risk factor for in-hospital mortality in patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for cardiogenic shock, but the shape of this relationship is unknown. Age is linearly associated with increasing in-hospital mortality in individuals receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for cardiogenic shock without evidence of a threshold effect. Median time-to-death is approximately 1 week. One third of patients are discharged from the hospital alive, but the median time-to-discharge is 1 month. The mean age of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation recipients was 54.8 ± 15.4 years (range, 18–90 yr). Crude in-hospital mortality was 57.7%. Median time-to-death was 8 days (interquartile range, 3–17 d).

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