Impact of different oxygen therapy strategies on the risk of endotracheal reintubation in mechanically ventilated patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Mechanical ventilation (MV) is a crucial intervention for the support of patients with acute and severe respiratory failure in modern intensive care medicine. However, the mechanical forces resulting from the interplay between the ventilator and the respiratory system may cause pulmonary injury.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) therapy and other oxygen therapy modalities on the risk of endotracheal reintubation in mechanically ventilated patients after extubation in the intensive care unit (ICU).

METHODS: An electronic search was carried out across various databases including PubMed, Embase, Ovid, Medline, Cochrane Library, Embase, VIP, and Wanfang. The objective of this search was to locate prospective randomized controlled trials that examined the effects of multiple oxygen therapy approaches on the incidence of reintubation in patients in the ICU after undergoing mechanical ventilation. The meta package in R language was used to analyze parameters adopted by the included studies such as reintubation rate, mortality rate, and length of hospital stay.

RESULTS: This study enrolled 22 articles, involving 4,160 participants, with 2,061 in the study group and 2,099 in the control group. Among these, 20 articles presented data on the reintubation rate of the patients included with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.90 (95% CI: 0.74, 1.09) for HFNC and an OR of 1.77 (95% CI: 0.93, 3.38) for HFNC in the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) subgroup. Moreover, 10 articles assessed the incidence of respiratory failure after extubation, revealing an OR for HFNC was 0.68 (95% CI: 0.55, 0.84) using a fixed-effects model. Nine articles addressed ICU mortality, while 13 pieces of literature examined hospital mortality. HFNC showed no significant impact on either ICU mortality or hospital mortality.

CONCLUSION: HFNC therapy markedly reduces the incidence of respiratory failure in mechanically ventilated patients following extubation in the ICU. Furthermore, it specifically reduces the risk of reintubation in patients diagnosed with COPD.