title: Can Tracheostomy Improve Outcome and Lower Resource Utilization for Patients with Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is not clear whether the benefits of tracheostomy remain the same in the population. This study aimed to better examine the effect of tracheostomy on clinical outcome among prolonged ventilator patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were from the medical claims data in Taiwan. A total of 3880 patients with ventilator use for more than 14 days between 2005 and 2009 were identified. Among them, 645 patients with tracheostomy conducted within 30 days of ventilator use were compared to 2715 patients without tracheostomy on death during hospitalization and study period, and successful weaning and medical utilization during hospitalization. Cox proportional hazards and linear regression models were used to examine the associations between tracheostomy and the main outcomes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The tracheostomy rate was 30%, and 55% of tracheostomies were performed within 30 days of mechanical ventilation. After adjustments, patients with tracheostomy were at a lower risk of death during hospitalization (hazard ratio [HR] =0.51; 95% confidence interval [CI] =0.43-0.61) and 5-year observation (HR = 0.73; 95% CI = 0.66-0.81), and a lower probability of successful weaning (HR = 0.88; 95% CI = 0.79-0.99). Higher medical use was also observed in patients with tracheostomy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The beneficial effect for tracheostomy observed in our data was the reduction of death. However, patients with tracheostomy were less likely to wean and more likely to consume medical resources.
authors.forename: Ciou-Rong
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Tzuo-Yun
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hospital and Health Care Administration, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei; Department of Surgery, National Yang-Ming University Hospital, Ilan, Taiwan, China.
authors.forename: Gau-Jun
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014139:Tracheostomy; D015300:Ventilator Weaning / Q000379:methods*