[Life care of a cohort of patients with home chronic ventilatory support].

INTRODUCTION: Home mechanical ventilation in chronic respiratory failure improves quality of life and decreases hospitalizations. In order to know clinical characteristics, resource consumption and survival, we proposed an analysis of the vital trajectory during six years.

METHODS: Descriptive and retrospective study. Information was obtained from the clinical history of the day hospital program. Kaplan Meier type survival curves were made. We included 100 patients, 57% men, age 65 ± 13 years and body mass index of 29.1 ± 8.6 kg/m2. Thirty had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 23 had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, 18 obesity hypoventilation syndrome, other neuromuscular diseases in 16 cases, diaphragmatic dysfunction in 10, and chest wall restriction in 3 patients. Ninety-eight received non-invasive ventilation and two invasive cases through tracheostomy. 80% used spontaneous-timed mode (S/T); 14.6%, spontaneous (S); 4% average volume-assured pressure support ventilation (AVAPS) and 1.3% control pressure. Non-invasive compliance was: 7.8 ± 2.6 hours/day.

RESULTS: After the start of home ventilation, hospitalizations were reduced (0.2, SD: 0.38 vs. 0.5 SD: 0.5, p < 0.001) and days of hospitalization per episode (5.14, SD: 17.7 vs. 10.45 SD: 16.69, p < 0.001). Median survival was two years with a better vital prognosis in COPD (3 years on average) vs. neuromuscular disease (< 2 years) p < 0.05.

CONCLUSIONS: patients with home mechanical ventilation showed a reduction in the days of hospitalization after starting ventilation. Better survival was observed in COPD in relation to neuromuscular disease.