Sedation During Non-invasive Ventilation and its Association with Intubation Rate and Intensive Care Units Stay among Adult Patients at King Abdulaziz Medical City

Abstract

Background: Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is a procedure of providing the patient, positive pressure ventilation without the use of artificial airway. Some patients may require minimum sedation for patient comfort. However, there are few studies examined the effect of using sedation with NIV. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of using sedation during NIV. Methods:A cross-sectional study was carried out at King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC) from 2016-2018 using data from an electronic medical record of patients who received NIV in ICUs. We collected demographic data, type of NIV, comorbidity, and type of sedation. We studied the outcome of intubation rate, length of ICUs stays and mortality for patients who received sedation during NIV.Results: Total of 110 adult patients were included in this study, with a median age of 70 years (IQR 63-78 years), and 53% were female patients. Most patients had COPD as a cause of ICU admission (31%). Among this population, only six patients, 5.45% received sedation during NIV in which the majority received Dexmedetomidine. Intubation rate was 12% among all patients, 33% of them received sedation. The median of the length of stay for the sedated patient was 7.5 .Conclusions: Using sedation during NIV is not a common practice for patients admitted in ICU. Using sedation during NIV did not have a significant effect on reducing intubation rate or ICU stay.