Yu Shen,1,2,* Qian Cao,1,* Hou Zhuo,1 Mengyao Hu,3 Shenjian Chen1,4 1Department of Neurology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China; 3The Medical Imaging Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China; 4Neurology Intensive Care Unit, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Shenjian Chen, Department of Neurology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, No. 1 Minde Road, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China, Email csj15270804192@126.comObjective: The timing of tracheostomy (TR) in severe stroke patients receiving mechanical ventilation has not been determined. In this study, we compared some prognostic indicators of early tracheostomy (ET) and late tracheostomy (LT). A meta-analysis was performed to obtain a higher level of evidence of the timing of TR in patients with severe stroke receiving mechanical ventilation.Methods: The study was a retrospective single-center study. We divided the severe stroke patients who received TR from June 2020 to June 2022 into the ET group and LT group. The demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics and prognostic indices were compared. For this meta-analysis, we systematically searched PubMed and other databases. The compared prognostic indicators included mechanical ventilation time, ICU length of stay (LOS), total LOS, ventilator-related pneumonia (VAP) incidence, and mortality.Results: A total of 61 patients were included in our study, including 32 patients in the ET group and 29 patients in the LT group. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that the NIHSS score in the ET group was higher than that in the LT group (P < 0.05). In terms of outcome indicators, compared with the LT group, the median mechanical ventilation time in the ET group was shortened by 5.5 days (P = 0.034). The ICU LOS and total LOS in the ET group were significantly lower than those in the LT group (median 14.5 days vs 22 days, P = 0.004; 21 days vs 27 days, P = 0.019). The meta-analysis showed that ET could significantly shorten the ICU LOS (MD − 3.89 [95% CI: − 6.86, − 0.92]) and the total LOS (MD − 7.70 [95% CI: − 8.57, − 6.83]) and significantly reduce the occurrence of VAP (OR 0.75 [95% CI: 0.64, 0.87]).Conclusion: The results of our retrospective study and meta-analysis support that ET can shorten the ICU LOS and total LOS and reduce the occurrence of VAP. Therefore, it has a positive effect on the prognosis of patients with severe stroke who need mechanical ventilation support.Keywords: tracheostomy, TR, tracheostomy timing, stroke, early tracheostomy, ET
