The role of assisted ventilation in survival after respiratory failure in children with AIDS.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the role of assisted ventilation in children with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and acute respiratory failure, and to identify any measurement or variable that predicted survival.


METHODS
Retrospective study.


METHODS
Kings County (New York) Hospital Center, a tertiary-level inner-city municipal hospital.


METHODS
Twenty-three children with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome who were endotracheally intubated and mechanically ventilated because of acute respiratory failure.


RESULTS
There were 24 episodes of acute respiratory failure, as one patient survived a first episode and died during the second episode 2 years later. We failed to identify any measurement or variable that predicted survival. During 12 episodes (50%), the patients survived and were weaned from the ventilator.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings indicate that a decision to avoid intubation and assisted ventilation in a child with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and acute respiratory failure should not be made based merely on the presumption of a lethal outcome.
Abadco
D L
DL
Division of Pediatric Pulmonology, Children's Medical Center of Brooklyn, NY.
Rao
M
M
Kravath
R E
RE
Steiner
P
P
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000150:complications*; D000208:Acute Disease; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal; D008297:Male; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D012131:Respiratory Insufficiency / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis