[Predictive value of stroke-related early tracheotomy score for tracheotomy in neurocritical patients]

To explore the predictive value of stroke-related early tracheotomy score (SET) for tracheotomy in neurocritical patients.

A retrospective analysis of the clinical data of neurocritical patients admitted to the department of intensive care unit (ICU) of the Xindu District People's Hospital of Chengdu from January 1st to December 31st, 2019. Patients were divided into tracheostomy group and non-tracheostomy group according to whether they underwent tracheotomy during hospitalization; according to SET score, patients were divided into groups with SET score < 10 points and SET score ≥ 10 points. The differences in gender, age, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II), Glasgow coma score (GCS), SET score, the length of ICU stay and mechanical ventilation time were compared between the two groups. The receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC curve) was used to analyze the predictive value of SET score for the length of ICU stay > 10 days, mechanical ventilation time > 5 days, and tracheotomy treatment, and the predictive value of APACHE II score for tracheotomy treatment.

Among 66 patients, 35 cases underwent a tracheotomy, 31 cases did not; SET score < 10 points in 19 cases, while SET score ≥ 10 points in 47 cases. Compared with the non-tracheostomy group, there were more male patients in the tracheostomy group (cases: 27 vs. 13), the GCS score was lower (7.00±2.41 vs. 11.52±2.00), the APACHE II score and the SET score were higher (22.43±4.45 vs. 19.58±5.86, 16.11±3.67 vs. 8.61±4.27), and the length of ICU stay and mechanical ventilation time was longer [days: 27.54±18.82 vs. 7.45±5.30, 13 (9, 19) vs. 0 (0, 2)], and all differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05). Compared with SET score < 10 points group, the proportion of traumatic brain injury and tracheotomy in the SET score ≥ 10 points group was higher (44.68% vs. 15.79%, 70.21% vs. 5.26%), the GCS score was lower (8.00±2.87 vs. 11.89±1.97), APACHE II score was higher (22.30±4.80 vs. 18.11±5.49), and the length of ICU stay and mechanical ventilation time was longer [days: 22.38±18.74 vs. 7.53±4.60, 9 (4, 16) vs. 0 (0, 2)], and the differences were statistically significant (all P < 0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of SET score predicting the length of ICU stay > 10 days of neurocritical patients was 0.877, and the 95% confidence interval (95%CI) was 0.790-0.964 (P = 0.000), and its cut-off value was 13.50, the sensitivity was 80.0%, and the specificity was 87.1%. The SET score predicts the AUC for mechanical ventilation time > 5 days was 0.915, the 95%CI was 0.851-0.979 (P = 0.000), the cut-off value was 13.50, the sensitivity was 78.4%, and the specificity was 89.7%. SET score predicts the AUC of tracheotomy treatment was 0.919, 95%CI was 0.853-0.985 (P = 0.000), its cut-off value was 13.50, the sensitivity was 82.9%, and the specificity was 90.3%, which was significantly better than that of APACHE II score in predicting the value of tracheotomy (AUC was 0.647, 95%CI was 0.512-0.783, P = 0.040, its cut-off value was 17.50, the sensitivity was 91.4%, and the specificity was 41.9%).

SET score has a good predictive value for the length of ICU stay, mechanical ventilation time and tracheotomy in neurocritical patients.