Table 8—

Characteristics of studies on timing of tracheostomy

First author [Ref.]	Yr	Study topic	Design	Subjects n	Patient characteristics	Comparator in prospective studies
Rumbak 169	2004	Early versus late	RCT	120	Medical ICU	<2 days versus 12–14 days
Bouderka 172	2004	Early versus late	RCT	62	Head injury	Tracheostomy day 5 versus orotracheal tube
Saffle 173	2002	Early versus late	RCT	44	Burns	Mean 4 days versus 14.8 days post-burn
Teoh 174	2001	Early versus late	Retrospective	30	Neurological ICU
Brook 175	2000	Early versus late	Prospective observational	90	Medical ICU	<Day 11
Maziak 176	1998	Timing	Systematic review
Armstrong 177	1998	Early versus late	Retrospective	157	Blunt trauma
Koh 109	1997	Timing of tracheostomy	Retrospective	17	Neurosurgical ICU
Sugerman 168	1997	Early versus late	RCT	155	Trauma	3–5 days versus 10–14 days
Blot 178	1995	Early versus late	Retrospective	53	Neutropaenia
D'Amelio 179	1994	Early plus PEG versus late	Prospective case series	31	Head injury	≤7 days versus >7 days
Lesnik 180	1992	Early versus late	Retrospective	101	Blunt trauma
Rodriguez 167	1990	Early versus late	RCT	106	Blunt trauma	1–7 days versus >7 days
Dunham 166	1984	Early versus late	RCT	74	Blunt trauma
Stauffer 160	1981	Early tracheostomy versus orotracheal tube	RCT	150	Mixed medical/surgical	Tracheostomy day 5 versus orotracheal tube
El-Nagger 181	1976	Early tracheostomy versus orotracheal tube	RCT	52	Acute respiratory failure	Tracheostomy day 3 versus orotracheal tube

RCT: randomised controlled trial; ICU: intensive care unit; PEG: percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy.