Clinical Characteristics and Complications of Mechanically Ventilated Children in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in Iran: Comparing Different Modes

Background: Mechanical ventilation (MV) is among the most common therapeutic modalities in pediatric intensive care units (PICU), which works based on a defined ventilation mode. Nowadays, conventional and alternative modes including adaptive pressure control (APC) and non-APC modes are frequently employed. Although MV can be helpful in many cases, it may cause some complications resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the demographic features and complications of mechanically ventilated children in a PICU in Iran, as well as to compare different ventilation modes. Methods: A retrospective case-control study was conducted in PICUs of children’s medical center hospital - a tertiary referral pediatric hospital. Results: Of 66 patients included in this study, 33 patients were treated with APC modes, whereas 33 patients were treated with non-APC modes. The most common indications for intubation were respiratory failure (53%) and loss of consciousness (13.6%). The mean duration for intubation in patients with and without underlying disorder were 11.7 and 5.2 days, respectively (P-value < 0.01). The means of time for intubation in the APC and non-APC groups were 10 and 11.9 days, respectively (P-value 0.145). A total of 23 (34.8%) patients had complications, including death, misplacement of the endotracheal tube, atelectasis, unplanned extubation, etc. There was no significant difference between groups regarding the rates of complications, except for atelectasis. Thirteen (19.7%) patients had atelectasis (2 patients in APC group (6%) and 11 patients in non-APC group (33.3%)) (P-value = 0.022). The mortality rate was the same for the both groups (P-value = 1). Conclusions: In sum, the most common indication for intubation was respiratory failure. No significant difference was observed among patients treated with the APC, and non-APC modes in terms of the complications occurred, except for atelectasis which occurred more frequently in the non-APC group. Therefore, it was concluded that there was no difference between conventional and alternative modes of mechanical ventilation in terms of morbidity and mortality.