Mortality and cause of death in patients with tracheostomy: Longitudinal follow-up study using a national sample cohort

Background The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term mortality and cause of death in patients with tracheostomy. Methods Data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service-Health Screening Cohort were collected from 2002 to 2013. A total of 2394 tracheostomy participants and 9536 control participants were included in this study. The crude and adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for tracheostomy-associated mortality were analyzed. Subgroup analysis according to age and cause of death was analyzed. Results The tracheostomy group showed a significantly higher rate of death (69.1%) than the nontracheostomy group (13.3%). The adjusted HR for mortality was 13.5 in the tracheostomy group. The most common cause of death after tracheostomy was a circulatory disease, followed by neoplasm, respiratory disease, and trauma. Conclusions Patients with tracheostomy had a significantly increased long-term mortality rate compared with patients with nontracheostomy. The circulatory disease was the most common cause of death following tracheostomy.