Pham Katryna, Ho Emma, Petulla Beckie, Oei Ju-Lee, Ravindranathan Hari, Soma Marlene
School of Clinical Medicine, Women's Health, Paediatrics & Children's Health, University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW, Australia.
Department of Paediatric Otolaryngology, Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick, NSW, Australia.
J Laryngol Otol. 2025 Apr;139(4):311-319. doi: 10.1017/S002221512400183X.
To determine if there have been changes over time for indications and outcomes of tracheostomies in infants.
Retrospective review of infant tracheostomies at a tertiary children's hospital across two time periods (epoch 1: 1997-2008; epoch 2: 2009-2020). Patient demographics, tracheostomy indications, comorbidities, length of stay, complications, decannulation and mortality were examined.
Seventy-two infants had a tracheostomy (40 epoch 1 32 epoch 2). Airway obstruction decreased (80 per cent 50 per cent*) and long-term ventilation increased (17.5 per cent 40.6 per cent*) as the primary indication. Early complications decreased between the time periods (30 per cent 6.3 per cent*). The median hospital length of stay was 97 days (interquartile range 53-205.5), total complication rate was 53 per cent, decannulation rate was 61 per cent and mortality rate was 17 per cent (all non-tracheostomy related) across both time periods. There were no significant changes for these outcomes. *(p< 0.05).
Long-term ventilation has increased and airway obstruction has decreased as the primary indication for infant tracheostomy over time.
