Introduction: ARDS continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients admitted to ICU. Clinical profile of patients with ARDS in India could be different from that of the western population due to the higher incidence of infectious diseases that cause ARDS. However, there are not many studies have been done in India on ARDS. Our aim was to study the clinical profile of patients with ARDS in South-Indian population. Methods: Prospective observational study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital on patients who were admitted to ICU with ARDS. Consecutive patients with ARDS were screened for inclusion and exclusion criteria and were included in the study. Data on demographic details, comorbidities, smoking and alcohol history, microbiological data, the outcome were recorded. Results: Of the 60 patients, Thirty-one were males (51.6%). The mean age of the population was 40.3 ± 6.5 years. Comorbidities were noted in 45% of those patients. Diabetes Mellitus (52%) was the most common comorbidity. Twenty-five percent of them were smokers and 30% were alcoholics. Pneumonia (60%) was the most common cause of ARDS among the subjects. Most common extra-pulmonary cause of ARDS was Pancreatitis (20%). Twenty-eight patients (46.6%) required invasive ventilation. Acinetobacter baumanii (28.3%) was the most common organism isolated. Mean duration of ICU stay and hospital stay was 5.5 ± 2 days and 9.5 ± 2.8 days respectively. The mortality rate was 40%. Conclusion: Pneumonia was the most common cause of ARDS followed by Pancreatitis. Acinetobacter baumanii was the most common organism isolated in these patients with ARDS. We observed high mortality rate of 40%.
