Clinical characteristics and outcomes associated with nasal intermittent mandatory ventilation in acute pediatric respiratory failure

AIM: To characterize the clinical course and outcomes of nasal intermittent mandatory ventilation (NIMV) use in acute pediatric respiratory failure. METHODS: We identified all patients treated with NIMV in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) or inpatient general pediatrics between January 2013 and December 2015 at two academic centers. Patients who utilized NIMV with other modes of noninvasive ventilation during the same admission were included. Data included demographics, vital signs on admission and prior to initiation of NIMV, pediatric risk of mortality III (PRISM-III) scores, complications, respiratory support characteristics, PICU and hospital length of stays, duration of respiratory support, and complications. Patients who did not require escalation to mechanical ventilation were defined as NIMV responders; those who required escalation to mechanical ventilation (MV) were defined as NIMV non-responders. NIMV responders were compared to NIMV non-responders. RESULTS: Forty-two patients met study criteria. Six (14%) failed treatment and required MV. The majority of the patients (74%) had a primary diagnosis of bronchiolitis. The median age of these 42 patients was 4 mo (range 0.5-28.1 mo, IQR 7, P = 0.69). No significant difference was measured in other baseline demographics and vitals on initiation of NIMV; these included age, temperature, respiratory rate, O2 saturation, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and PRISM-III scores. The duration of NIMV was shorter in the NIMV non-responder vs NIMV responder group (6.5 h vs 65 h, P < 0.0005). Otherwise, NIMV failure was not associated with significant differences in PICU length of stay (LOS), hospital LOS, or total duration of respiratory support. No patients had aspiration pneumonia, pneumothorax, or skin breakdown. CONCLUSION: Most of our patients responded to NIMV. NIMV failure is not associated with differences in hospital LOS, PICU LOS, or duration of respiratory support.