Patients with compensated hypercapnic respiratory failure have high rates of mortality and health care utilization, finds a recent study.  The research by a team led by Matthew W. Wilson, physician in the division of pulmonary and critical care at the University of Michigan, published in Annals of the American Thoracic Society, pointed out that the elevated carbon dioxide partial pressure could be the reason behind the worse survival of the patients. The study analysed 491 patients at the University of Michigan hospital with compensated hypercapnia to find that acute hypercapnic respiratory failure is associated with worse outcomes in a variety of clinical settings, such as increased mortality in patients with COPD, the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome and requiring mechanical ventilation in the ICU.