Patient factors associated with positive respiratory cultures following tracheostomy in pediatric patients

Objectives

An increasing number of pediatric patients undergo tracheostomy placement annually. Despite advances in care, these patients remain at high risk for postoperative complications, including respiratory infections. The risk factors for positive respiratory cultures and the impact of culture positivity on overall morbidity and mortality in this population is not fully characterized.

Study design and setting

Retrospective cross-sectional analysis of all patients within a single tertiary care institution who underwent tracheostomy placement from January 1, 2019 to 12/31/2021.

Methods

We collected patient demographic information, comorbidities, primary indication for tracheostomy placement, and respiratory culture information preoperatively and postoperatively. The primary outcome measure was positive bacterial respiratory culture with speciation within 1, 3, or 6 months of tracheostomy placement. The secondary outcome measure was all-cause mortality within the study period.

Results

A total of 180 patients with median (IQR) age of 5.2 (3.4–31.0) months at time of tracheostomy placement were included in the study. Nearly half of patients had a positive culture within 1 month (n = 81,47.4 %) while 63.7 % of patients were positive within 6 months of tracheostomy placement (n = 109). Risk factors included respiratory and/or cardiac comorbidities. Positive respiratory cultures within 6 months of surgery and cardiac and/or neurologic comorbidities were associated with increased all-cause mortality following tracheostomy placement.

Conclusions

Positive respiratory cultures are common following tracheostomy placement, more so in patients with cardiac and pulmonary comorbid conditions. Positive cultures are associated with increased all-cause mortality. More work is necessary to determine optimal screening frequency and treatment protocols for positive cultures in this population.