Simple weaning | Difficult weaning | Prolonged weaning | p-value | |
Subjects | 152 (59) | 68 (26) | 37 (14) | |
Age yrs | 60±17 | 61±13 | 64±12 | 0.5786 |
Males | 81 (53) | 33 (49) | 22 (59) | 0.8831 |
Number of comorbidities on ICU admission | 1 (0–1) | 0 (0–1) | 1 (0–1.5) | 0.4341 |
Types of comorbidity | ||||
Non-metastasising malignancy | 17 (11) | 3 (4) | 1 (3) | 0.0402# |
Chronic renal failure | 10 (7) | 7 (10) | 4 (11) | 0.2851 |
Chronic respiratory failure | 19 (13) | 11 (16) | 10 (27) | 0.0346¶ |
Chronic heart failure | 11 (7) | 0 (0) | 1 (3) | 0.0616 |
Insulin-dependent diabetes | 8 (5) | 3 (4) | 5 (14) | 0.1391 |
Types of ICU admission | ||||
Medical | 88 (58) | 43 (63) | 25 (68) | 0.2348 |
Surgery: elective | 22 (14) | 8 (12) | 4 (11) | 0.4832 |
Surgery: emergency | 40 (26) | 17 (25) | 8 (22) | 0.5675 |
SAPS II score | 45±19 | 48±18 | 45±16 | 0.5552 |
SAPS II predicted mortality % | 39±29 | 42±29 | 37±28 | 0.5582 |
Cause of admission | ||||
Gastrointestinal surgery | 10 (7) | 10 (15) | 5 (14) | 0.0756 |
Cardiovascular surgery | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (3) | 0.0479 |
Neurosurgery | 18 (12) | 5 (7) | 5 (14) | 0.8977 |
Other types of surgery | 22 (14) | 3 (4) | 0 (0) | 0.0019+ |
Cardiovascular disease | 21 (14) | 8 (12) | 4 (11) | 0.5699 |
Neurological disease | 23 (15) | 11 (16) | 3 (8) | 0.4038 |
Respiratory disease | 25 (16) | 17 (25) | 14 (38) | 0.0038§ |
Data are presented as n (%), mean±sd or median (interquartile range), unless otherwise stated. ICU: intensive care unit; SAPS: simplified acute physiology score. #: simple versus difficult p = 0.1000, simple versus prolonged p = 0.2053, difficult versus prolonged p = 0.9999; ¶: simple versus difficult p = 0.4859, simple versus prolonged p = 0.0248, difficult versus prolonged p = 0.1609; +: simple versus difficult p = 0.0298, simple versus prolonged p = 0.0089, difficult versus prolonged p = 0.5504; §: simple versus difficult p = 0.1358, simple versus prolonged p = 0.0039, difficult versus prolonged p = 0.1683.