Factors Associated with In-hospital Mortality of Emergency Department Intubation for Non-traumatic Patients

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Although, urgent intubation is commonly thought to be associated with a high complication rate and poor outcome, early intubation before deterioration and airway compromise is recommended. We designed a study to evaluate the factors associated with the mortality rate of non-traumatic patients intubated in an emergency department (ED). METHODS: Data were retrieved retrospectively from the patient registry for patients >15-years-of-age who had received ED intubation from June 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008. Patient demographic data, clinical and laboratory findings, vital signs, and specific data concerning intubation procedures were included. Acute physiologic and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II scores were calculated for every patient. RESULTS: From the initial 241 non-traumatic ED intubated patients, 115 were excluded for out-of-hospital arrests, inadequate data, and undetected esophageal intubation. The remaining 126 patients were enrolled in this study. Sixty (47.6%) patients died during hospital treatment. From multivariate logistic regression analysis, respiratory rate and the time from ED arrival to intubation were associated with increased mortality, which showed an odds ratio (95% Cl) of 1.081 (1.026~1.141) and 1.428 (1.066~1.91), respectively. CONCLUSION: The increase in respiratory rate and the time interval of intubation from ED arrival to intubation in non-traumatic patients are related to increased in-hospital mortality.