Clinical outcomes and associated factors in pediatric patients undergoing tracheostomy in a public intensive care unit.

Authors

Iago Silva de Almeida, Lucieny Silva Martins Serra, Catarina Ferreira Costa Praia, Alexandre Peixoto Serafim

Published in

Critical care science. Volume 38. Pages e20260345. Epub Jun 12, 2026.

Abstract

To describe clinical outcomes and identify predictors of death and complications in children undergoing tracheostomy at a public referral hospital in the Federal District.
A retrospective cohort study including 123 children (zero to 14 years) who underwent tracheostomy between 2017 and 2021. Patients under exclusive palliative care, those lost to follow-up, or with a tracheostomy performed prior to 2017 were excluded. Follow-up spanned from the procedure date until decannulation, death, or the study end (August 2, 2025), with a mean duration of 26.9 months. Data on demographics, clinical indicators, complications, and outcomes were analyzed using descriptive statistics, survival analysis (Kaplan-Meier), binary logistic regression, and Poisson regression.
The majority were infants (58.5%) and male (53.7%). Upper airway obstruction was the predominant indication (41.5%). The overall mortality was 39%, and septic shock was the leading cause (16.7%). Complications occurred in 52% of cases, most notably tracheitis (42.2%) and accidental decannulation (32.8%). Multivariate analysis identified the following as independent predictors of death: tracheitis (OR 4.79; 95%CI 2.15 - 10.68; p = 0.001), mechanical ventilation dependence (OR 3.43; 95%CI 1.52 - 7.74; p = 0.003), and accidental decannulation (OR 2.44; 95%CI 1.05 - 5.66; p = 0.037). Poisson regression showed that longer tracheostomy use time (IRR 1.137; p = 0.008) and complex chronic diseases (IRR 1.573; p = 0.011) were associated with higher complication rates.
Tracheostomized children in this public hospital setting experience high morbidity and mortality, influenced significantly by modifiable factors such as infection, ventilator dependence, and decannulation events.

PMID:
42307312
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 17 Jun 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.