Clinical question: Are overnight extubations in intensive care units associated with higher mortality rate?
Background: Little is known about the frequency, safety, and effectiveness of overnight extubations in the ICU.
Study design: Retrospective cohort study.
Setting: One-hundred sixty-five ICUs in the United States.
Synopsis: Using the Project IMPACT database, 97,844 adults undergoing mechanical ventilation (MV) admitted to ICUs were studied. Overnight extubation was defined as occurring between 7 p.m. and 6:59 a.m. Primary outcome was reintubation; secondary outcomes were ICU and hospital mortality and ICU and hospital length of stay.
Only one-fifth of patients with MV underwent overnight extubations. For MV duration of at least 12 hours, rates of reintubation were higher for patients undergoing overnight extubation (14.6% vs. 12.4%; P less than .001). Mortality was significantly higher for patients undergoing overnight versus daytime extubation in the ICU (11.2% vs. 6.1%; P less than.001) and in the hospital (16.0% vs. 11.1%; P less than .001). Length of ICU and hospital stays did not differ.
Bottom line: Overnight extubations occur in one of five patients in U.S. ICUs and are associated with worse outcomes, compared with daytime extubations.
Citation: Gershengorn HB, Scales DC, Kramer A, Wunsch H. Association between overnight extubations and outcomes in the intensive care unit. JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176(11):1651-1660.
Dr. Mosetti is an assistant professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and a hospitalist at University of Miami Hospital and Jackson Memorial Hospital.