short-term outcome of early tracheostomy in the trauma patients admitted to intensive care unit: a comparative study

objectives: to compare the results of early versus late tracheostomy in trauma patients admitted to intensive care unit (icu). methods: this was case control study being performed at a major trauma centre in shiraz, iran including 120 trauma patients admitted to icu during a 2-year period and underwent tracheostomy during their icu stay. the patients were categorized into two groups of the early tracheostomy who underwent tracheostomy within the first 7 days of initiation of mechanical ventilation (n=60), and the late tracheostomy group, in which tracheostomy was performed after 7 days (n=60). the duration of mechanical ventilation, icu stay and hospital stay as well as mortality rates in icu and hospital were recorded and compared between two study groups. results: the baseline characteristics such as age (p=0.325), sex (p=0.071), glasgow coma scale (gcs) (p=0.431) and the mechanism of injury (p=0.822) were comparable between two study groups. early tracheostomy was associated with a significantly shorter duration of mechanical ventilation (p=0.008) and shorter icu stay (p=0.003). hospital stay (p=0.165), icu mortality (p=0.243), and hospital mortality (p=0.311) were not different between the two study groups. conclusion: early tracheostomy is associated with reduced icu stay and shorter duration of mechanical ventilation. adopting a standardized strategy may improve resource utilization.