Post-extubation stridor (PES) is an inadequately studied complication in critically ill patients. Development of PES can result in respiratory failure, requiring the need for emergent re-intubation.  Our understanding of risk factors related to the development of stridor in the neurocritical care population is lacking.  Identification of PES risk factors can contribute to improvement in care in this patient population.   

We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients admitted to a neurocritical care unit to determine the demographic, premorbid conditions, admitting diagnoses, and incident treatment risk factors related to development of post-extubation stridor.  We performed a univariate analysis of 130 patients who underwent endotracheal intubation and were admitted to the Neurocritical Care Unit.  We used the Mann-Whitney U Test to evaluate for differences with continuous data, and the Pearson Chi-Square test for differences with categorical data. 

In this exploratory analysis risk factors for PES female sex and weight on admission have been identified as risk factors in this neurocritical care population.  An analysis of a larger multicenter patient population with multiple predictors and logistic regression models for clarification of PES risk factors could provide useful insight toward optimizing care in this patient population.