Noninvasive Ventilation as a Weaning Strategy in Subjects with Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure

Weaning through noninvasive ventilation (NIV) after early extubation may facilitate invasive ventilation withdrawal and reduce related complications in patients with hypercapnic respiratory failure. However, the effects of NIV weaning are uncertain in patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF). We aimed to investigate whether NIV weaning could reduce hospital mortality and other outcomes compared with invasive weaning in subjects with hypoxemic AHRF.

We searched medical literature databases for relevant articles published from inception to February 2019. Randomized controlled trials that adopted NIV as a weaning strategy compared with invasive weaning in hypoxemic AHRF were included. The primary outcome was hospital mortality. The secondary outcomes included ICU mortality, the ICU stay, weaning time, duration of ventilation, extubation failure, and adverse events.

Six relevant studies, which involved 718 subjects, were included. There was no significant effect of NIV weaning on hospital mortality compared with invasive weaning (risk ratio 0.94, 95% CI 0.65-1.36; P = .74), whereas there was a significant effect of NIV weaning on shortening the ICU stay (mean difference -3.95, 95% CI -6.49 to -1.40, P = .002) and on decreasing adverse events without affecting the weaning time (standardized MD -0.04, 95% CI -0.21 to 0.14; P = .68).

The strategy of NIV weaning did not decrease hospital mortality in subjects with hypoxemic AHRF, but it did shorten the ICU lengths of stay and reduce adverse events.