2009 H1N1 Influenza and Experience in Three Critical Care Units

Teke, Turgut; Coskun, Ramazan; Sungur, Murat; Guven, Muhammed; Bekci, Taha T; Maden, Emin; Alp, Emine; Doganay, Mehmet; Erayman, Ibrahim; Uzun, Kursat

Patients divided into two groups according to type of mechanical ventilatory support. Of all patients, 56 (91%) were mechanically ventilated on the first day of ICU admission; 14 (23 %) patients received invasive and 42 (68.8 %) noninvasive mechanical ventilation. Fifteen patients (24.5 %) who received noninvasive ventilation ultimately required invasive ventilation. Full-face mask was used in all patients for NIMV. APACHE II score, PCO2, white blood cell count and neutrophil account were higher in invasive mechanical ventilation group than NIMV group. Arterial blood pH was lower in invasive mechanical ventilation group than NIMV group. Duration of NIMV and IMV were 5.28 ± 3.4 days (range, 2 to 14) and 6.92 ± 5.8 days (range, 1 to 19) respectively. In survivors, the length of invasive mechanical ventilation ranged from 1 to 19 days (6.2 ± 5.5days). The length of NIMV ranged from 1 to 14 days (4.25 ± 3.8 days). There were no significant differences in tidal volume or ventilation strategies between survivors and nonsurvivors. Patients who survived were more likely to have NIMV use at the time of admission to the ICU. Patients who died were more likely to have IMV use at the time of admission to ICU.