Risk Factors for Anesthesia-Related Airway Patient Safety Incidents: A Single-Center Retrospective Case-Control Analysis from 2009 to 2022

Objective

Airway-related patient safety incident (PSI) has always been the top concern of anesthesiologists because this type of incidents could severely threaten patient safety if not treated immediately and properly. This study intends to reveal the composition, prognosis, and to identify risk factors for airway related incidents reported by anesthesiologists.

Methods

All airway related PSIs reported by anesthesiologists in a Chinese academic hospital between September 2009 and May 2022 were collected from the PSI reporting system. Patients with airway incidents reported were matched 1:1 with controls based on sex and type of surgery. Univariable and multivariable analysis were performed to find risk factors associated with airway incident occurrence, and to evaluate influence of airway PSIs on patient prognosis.

Results

Among 1,038 PSIs voluntarily reported by anesthesiologists during the study period, 281 cases (27.1 %) were airway-related incidents, with an overall reporting incidence of 4.74 per 10,000 among 592,884 anesthesia care episodes. Only ASA physical status was found to be significant independent predictor of these airway PSIs (P = 0.020). Patients with airway PSIs reported had longer extubation time (0.72 ± 1.56 d vs. 0.16 ± 0.77 d, 95%CI: 0.29 to 0.82, P < 0.001), longer ICU length of stay (LOS) (1.63 ± 5.71 d vs. 0.19 ± 0.84 d, 95%CI: 0.57 to 2.32, P = 0.001), longer post operative LOS (10.56 ± 13.09 d vs. 7.59 ± 10.76 d, 95%CI: 0.41 to 5.53, P = 0.023), and longer total in-hospital LOS (14.99 ± 15.18 dra. 11.62 ± 11.88 d, 95%CI: 0.46 to 6.27, P = 0.024).

Conclusions

This single-center retrospective case-control study describes the composition of airway-related PSIs reported by anesthesiologists within thirteen years. Airway incidents might influence patient prognosis by elongating extubation time and LOS. Airway PSI data were worth analyzing to improve patient safety.