Survival after short- or long-term ventilation after acute spinal cord injury: a single-centre 25-year retrospective study.

STUDY

DESIGN

A retrospective review of acute spinal cord injury patients having assisted ventilation on or after admission between 1981 and 2005.

OBJECTIVE

To assess survival after acute ventilatory support.

SETTING

Northwest Regional Spinal Injuries Centre, Southport, England.

METHODS

Causes of death were ascertained from the Office of National Statistics. Kaplan-Meier analysis of survival was calculated according to ventilator-wean status at discharge. Risk factors were obtained by Cox regression analysis.

RESULTS

Over 50% of deaths in weaned and ventilated patients were respiratory in origin. The mean survival of weaned patients in the age group 31-45 was 19.3 compared with 10.5 years for ventilated patients (P=0.047). Those under 30 survived a further 22.1 and 18.4 years (P=0.31), while those over 45 lived for 11.0 and 8.3 years (P=0.50), values for weaned and ventilated patients, respectively. The survival advantage for weaned patients in the middle age group was less evident when the 1-year survivors were compared. The mean survival time of younger patients with diaphragm pacing was 1.8 years longer than those on mechanical ventilation (P=0.142). The variables with significant hazard ratios were any comorbidity (3.07); mechanical ventilation on discharge (2.26); and older age at injury, (3.1).

CONCLUSIONS

The survival time for patients with high tetraplegia on long-term ventilation compares with other datasets and older patients have a proportionately greater loss in life expectancy. Self-ventilating patients with tetraplegia remain at considerable risk from respiratory death and consideration needs to be given to more effective preventative measures.