Epidemiologic characteristics and outcomes of major trauma patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation

The epidemiologic characteristics and outcomes of severe trauma patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) remain unclear. This retrospective study aims to investigate the outcomes of PMV in this specific group. All patients with major trauma admitted to the respiratory care center (RCC) requiring PMV (duration ≥21 days between January 2014 and December 2016) were enrolled. A total of 36343 trauma patients visited our emergency department for management, and 1388 (3.82%) were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) after initial resuscitation. After ICU management, 93 major trauma patients required PMV, and were then transferred to the RCC. Their mean age of these 93 patients was 68.6 ± 18.3 years and 65 patients (70.0%) were older than 65 years. Head/neck trauma (n = 78, 83.9%) were the most common injury, followed by thoracic trauma (n = 30, 32.2%), and extremity trauma (n = 29, 31.2%). Their median injury severity score was 25 (interquartile range [IQR] 16–27). The median length of hospital stay was 50 days (IQR, 39–62). Six patients died of ventilator-associated pneumonia for an in-hospital morality rate of 6.5%. In addition, 11 PMV patients became mechanical ventilator-dependent and were transferred to the respiratory care ward for further long-term care. In conclusion, <0.3% of trauma patients required PMV, and their in-hospital mortality rate was only 6.5%. Ventilator-associated pneumonia was the main cause of death and nosocomial infections were common in patients with long-term mechanical ventilator dependence.