The incidence of awake tracheal intubation in anesthetic practice is decreasing: a historical cohort study of the years 2014–2020 at a single tertiary care institution

PURPOSE: Awake tracheal intubation (ATI) is recommended in airway management guidelines when significant difficulty is predicted with airway management. Use of the technique may be declining, which may have implications for patient safety or for skills acquisition and maintenance. This historical cohort database study sought to determine if the use of ATI was decreasing in our adult tertiary care center. METHODS: With institutional research ethics board approval, we queried our anesthesia information management system for cases with ATI descriptors for each year from 2014 to 2020. Records of the retrieved cases were independently reviewed by all three authors to verify they met inclusion criteria for the ATI cohort prior to analysis for the primary outcome. Secondary outcome measures included airway device and route used for ATI, first attempt and ultimate success rates, and reported adverse issues recorded in cases of failed ATI or those requiring more than one attempt. RESULTS: A total of 692 cases of ATI were identified between 2014 and 2020. There was a statistically significant decrease in yearly ATIs over the seven-year study period (Chi square goodness of fit, P < 0.001), with ATI use decreasing by about 50%. First attempt success was significantly greater with use of flexible bronchoscopy vs video laryngoscopy to facilitate ATI (84% vs 60%; P < 0.001), while there was no difference in first attempt success with the oral vs nasal route (82% vs 82%; P = 1.0). CONCLUSION: In this single-center historical cohort study, the use of ATI decreased significantly from 2014 to 2020. Whether this decrease will result in morbidity or mortality related to airway management is currently unclear. Regardless, it has implications for training opportunities and maintenance of competence in performing the procedure. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12630-022-02344-8.