Despite a small incidence of postoperative PMV of only 0.5%, among patients, the mortality were as high as 67.7% and 71.0% in the ICU and hospital, respectively. In studies on patients with PMV in ICUs, the reported 1-year mortality varied from 48% to 67% (11-13), which is lower than that in our cohort (74.2%). Patients on PMV after surgery had worse 1-year prognosis than patients in mixed and medical ICUs. From the China National Committee on Aging data (http://www.cncaprc.gov.cn/contents/37/69715.html), people older than 60 years will be about 248 million by 2020 (17% of the present population in China). Along with n an aging population is the progression in medical technology and therapeutic theory, the number of PMV patients will also be increasing in China, with time. Thus, it is of great clinical significance to evaluate the prognosis of PMV patients in ICUs.
Our results showed that, for patients requiring PMV after surgery, cancer surgery, together with no tracheostomy, enteral nutrition intolerance, platelet count ≤150´109/L, use of vasopressors and renal replacement therapy on the 21st day of mechanical ventilation was associated with shortened 1-year survival. Since it is a retrospective study, it is impossible to know whether the factors associated with mortality are markers of severity or determinants of death.
A study showed that low platelet count, use of vasopressors, and requirement of renal replacement therapy by day 21 of mechanical ventilation are predictors of 1-year mortality in PMV patients in a mixed ICU in the United States (13), which is similar to our finding. The same study showed that age was a predictor of 1-year mortality in PMV patients, but this was not demonstrated in our study; this might have been caused by the different study populations. In critically ill patients, thrombocytopenia is usually caused by severe infections, side effect of medications, and myelosuppression, among others; which is regarded as a sign of illness aggravation (14). Requirement of vasopressors implies an unstable circulation, which is associated with higher occurrence of MODS (15). In patients with sepsis and MODS, requirement of vasopressors is also associated with increased 1-year and 5-year mortality (16). Requirement of renal replacement therapy by the 21st day of mechanical ventilation is usually caused by renal failure, and is also regarded as a sign of poor prognosis (12).
A study showed that the overall 1-year survival rate in PMV cancer patients was 14.3% (17), which was poorer generally, than that in patients with other comorbidities (18). after cancer surgery, PMV patients showed poor prognosis, which could be attributed to the cancer itself as well as the development of cancer recurrence/metastasis after surgery (19,20).
In a study involving 429 patients which evaluated hospital and long-term outcome after tracheostomy for respiratory failure, the results showed that those who were weaned off mechanical ventilation and placed on tracheostomy tubes had lower 3-year mortality than ventilator-dependent patients (P<0.001) (21). In the present study, the patients not inserting tracheostomy might often meant with high risk of death, and have increased the use of sedatives and opioids , maybe dependence on mechanical ventilation ultimately, which was associated with prolonged 1-year mortality.
Critically ill patients on mechanical ventilation are at risk of underfeeding and progressive malnutrition, and this population often receives less than the required energy and protein (22). Enteral nutrition (EN) is preferred over parenteral nutrition (PN) because it is more physiological and less likely to result in hepatobiliary dysfunction and electrolyte imbalance (23). In addition, when compared with EN, use of PN has been linked to higher incidence of infection, impaired wound healing, and gastrointestinal bleeding (24).
The multivariate Cox proportional model can be used as a prognostic assessment tool for critically ill patients after surgery in the future. Clinicians should not only pay attention to platelet count, use of vasopressors, and the need for renal replacement by the 21st day of mechanical ventilation in patients, but also to assess whether patients have malignant tumors, need tracheostomy, and nutritional support.
The area under curve for the combination of our multivariate factors was more than the area for the ProVent score. There was significant difference between the ProVent score and the combination of our multivariate factors in predicting 1-year survival using ROC curves, however, the sample size was relatively small and the comparison might be unconvincing.
This study had major limitations. First, the sample size was relatively small. Patients requiring PMV after surgery had a small sample size, with a percentage of only 0.5% in our study. A larger sample size is needed to develop a more accurate predictive model. Secondly, our study retrospectively analyzed patients’ data over a long period. Clinical practice and, thus, patient characteristics might have changed during that period, which made it lack of validation.