Timing of Tracheotomy in Mechanically Ventilated Critically Ill Morbidly Obese Patients

Table 4

Demographic and clinical characteristics of study population stratified by median duration of mechanical ventilation until tracheotomy.

	Early tracheotomy	Late tracheotomy	value
Age, years	57.6 ± 15.8	55.3 ± 14.6	0.45
Gender (M/F)	17/27	25/33	0.8
BMI (kg/m^2)	55.8 ± 14.9	51.6 ± 12.4	0.13
APACHE II	13.5 ± 5.3	13.6 ± 5.7	0.95
Charlson comorbidity index	5 (3–7)	5 (4–8)	0.67
Nosocomial pneumonia, (%)	6 (14)	24 (41)	0.002
Total duration of mechanical ventilation, days	15.9 ± 8.1	28.6 ± 11.2	<0.001
ICU length of stay, days	17.2 ± 7.7	27.6 ± 9.3	<0.001
Hospital length of stay, days	27.9 ± 15.8	39.8 ± 15.6	<0.001
Hospital mortality, (%)	12 (27)	16 (28)	0.85