Outcomes After Intensive Rehabilitation for Mechanically Ventilated Patients: A Nationwide Retrospective Cohort Study

Objective: To examine the effects of intensive rehabilitation on mortality and liberation from mechanical ventilation among patients with mechanical ventilation in intensive care units.

Design: Retrospective cohort study using the Diagnosis Procedure Combination inpatient database.

Setting: Patients discharged from acute care hospitals from April 2010 to March 2016.

Participants: Patients (N=46,438) aged 20 years and older who were admitted to intensive care units and who started rehabilitation within 3 days of starting mechanical ventilation.

Intervention: Intensive rehabilitation in intensive care unit in the first 5 days after admission. Amount of rehabilitation was defined as the average number of units per day in the first 5 days after admission and was dichotomized as intensive (≥1.0 unit/d) or nonintensive (<1.0 unit/d) rehabilitation.

Main outcome measures: The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. The secondary outcome was liberation from mechanical ventilation.

Results: We identified 29,982 eligible patients, including intensive (n=7745) and nonintensive (n=22,237) rehabilitation groups. In the propensity score-matched analysis, the intensive rehabilitation group had significantly lower in-hospital mortality (risk difference: -3.4%; 95% CI, -4.9% to -1.9%) and a higher proportion of liberation from mechanical ventilation (subdistribution hazard ratio, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.03-1.13) compared with the nonintensive rehabilitation group.

Conclusions: Patients receiving a higher amount of rehabilitation in intensive care units were less likely to die and more likely to be liberated from mechanical ventilation.