National incidence rate and related mortality for acute respiratory distress syndrome in France.

Despite the use of a uniform definition for ARDS, there may be significant regional variations in incidence and outcome due to a number of factors, including seasonal variation, aetiology, management, study methodologies, environmental pollution levels, cigarette smoking, alcohol habits, clinical comorbidities, race, differences in the overall structure of health care, burden of diseases requiring ICU admission, ICU staffing, variations in the number of ICU beds, hospital policy on ICU bed utilisation, and availability of intensive care services [26] , [27] , [28] .

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