Characteristics, Hospital Course, and Outcomes of Patients Requiring Prolonged Acute Versus Short-Term Mechanical Ventilation in the United States, 2014–2018*

Objectives: Most patients requiring mechanical ventilation only require it for a short term (< 4 d of mechanical ventilation). Those undergoing prolonged acute mechanical ventilation (≥ 4 d mechanical ventilation) represent a select cohort who face significant morbidity, mortality, and resource utilization. Using administrative codes, we identified prolonged acute mechanical ventilation and short-term mechanical ventilation patients and compared their baseline characteristics, hospital events, and hospital outcomes. Design: Retrospective cohort. Setting: Seven-hundred eighty-seven acute care hospitals, United States, contributing data to Premier database, 2014–2018. Patients: Patients on mechanical ventilation. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Among 691,961 patients meeting the enrollment criteria, 266,374 (38.5%) received prolonged acute mechanical ventilation. At baseline, patients on prolonged acute mechanical ventilation were similar to short-term mechanical ventilation in age (years: 62.0 ± 15.8 prolonged acute mechanical ventilation vs 61.7 ± 17.2 short-term mechanical ventilation), gender (males: 55.6% prolonged acute mechanical ventilation vs 53.9% short-term mechanical ventilation), and race (white: 69.1% prolonged acute mechanical ventilation vs 72.4% short-term mechanical ventilation). The prolonged acute mechanical ventilation group had a higher comorbidity burden than short-term mechanical ventilation (mean Charlson Score 3.5 ± 2.7 vs 3.1 ± 2.7). The prevalence of vasopressors (50.3% vs 36.9%), dialysis (19.4% vs 10.3%), severe sepsis (20.3% vs 10.3%), and septic shock (33.5% vs 15.9%) was higher in prolonged acute mechanical ventilation than short-term mechanical ventilation. Hospital mortality (29.75% vs 21.1%), combined mortality, or discharge to hospice (37.2% vs 25.3%), extubation failure (12.3% vs 6.1%), tracheostomy (21.6% vs 4.5%), development of Clostridium difficile (4.5% vs 1.7%), and incidence density of ventilator-associated pneumonia (2.4/1,000 patient-days vs 0.6/1,000 patient-days) were all higher in the setting of prolonged acute mechanical ventilation than short-term mechanical ventilation. Median (interquartile range) post mechanical ventilation onset length of stay (13 [8–20] vs 4 d [1–8 d]) and hospital costs ($55,014 [$35,051–$88,007] vs $20,120 [$12,071–$34,915] were higher in prolonged acute mechanical ventilation than short-term mechanical ventilation. Conclusions: Over one-third of all hospitalized patients on mechanical ventilation require it for greater than or equal to 4 days. Prolonged acute mechanical ventilation patients exhibit a higher burden of both chronic and acute illness and experience higher rates than those on short-term mechanical ventilation of hospital-acquired complications and worse clinical and economic outcomes.