Prevalence of extubation and associated risk factors at a tertiary care pediatric intensive care unit

Introduction. Extubation failure (EF) is associated with a higher risk for pneumonia, hospital stay, and mortality. Objective. To determine the prevalence of EF and identify the associated factors in our population. Materials and methods. Observational and retrospective design. All patients aged 1 month old to 18 years old who required mechanical ventilation for more than 12 hours and underwent at least one scheduled extubation during their stay in the 2012-2016 period were included. The aspects related to ventilation and the causes of failure were recorded. Results. Seven hundred and thirty-one patients were extubated and the prevalence of EF was 19.3 %. The causes of failure included upper airway obstruction (51.4 %), muscle fatigue (20.1 %), respiratory center depression (14.6 %), and inability to protect the airways (9.7 %). As per the multivariate analysis, the independent factors that accounted for EF were neurological complex chronic condition (odds ratio [OR] = 2.27; 95 % confidence interval [CI] = 1.21-4.26); acute lower respiratory tract infection in a patient with prior sequelae (OR = 1.87, 95 % CI = 1.11-3.15); acute neurological injury (OR = 1.92, 95 % CI = 1.03-3.57); unplanned extubation (OR = 2.52, 95 % CI = 1.02-6.21), and presence of stridor (OR = 5.84, 95 % CI = 3.66-9.31). Conclusion. The main cause of EF was upper airway obstruction. Neurological sequelae, acute neurological injury, unplanned extubation, and the presence of postextubation stridor were identified as risk factors associated with EF.