Nighttime Extubation Does Not Increase Risk of Reintubation, Length of Stay, or Mortality: Experience of a Large, Urban, Teaching Hospital

BACKGROUND: In the intensive care unit (ICU), extubation failure has been associated with greater resource utilization and worsened clinical outcomes. Most recently, nighttime extubation (NTE) has been reported as a risk factor for increased ICU and hospital mortality. We hypothesized that, in a large, urban, university-affiliated hospital with multidisciplinary assessment for extubation, rigorously protocolized extubation algorithms, and expert airway managers available at all times of day for assessment of high-risk extubations, NTE would not confer additional risk of adverse clinical outcomes. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of mechanically ventilated adults at a single university-affiliated hospital. NTE was defined as occurring between 7:00 PM and 6:59 AM the following day. All data were extracted from the institution's electronic medical record. Multi­vari­able regression analyses were used to assess associations between NTE and reintubation, ICU and hospital length of stay (LOS), and mortality with adjustments for demographic and clinical covariates defined a priori. Palliative, unplanned, and routine postoperative extubations were excluded in sensitivity analyses. RESULTS: Of 2241 patients, 204 of 2241 (9.1%) underwent NTE. The rates of reintubation (NTE 6.9% versus daytime extubation [DTE] 12.4%; adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval {CI}], 0.78 [0.43–1.41]; P = .41) and in-hospital mortality (NTE 3.4% versus DTE 5.9%; adjusted odds ratio [95% CI], 0.72 [0.28–1.84]; P = .49) were not found to differ. NTE, compared to DTE, was associated with shorter duration of mechanical ventilation (median [interquartile range], 1 [0–1] days vs 2 [1–4] days; adjusted ratio of geometric means [RGMs] [95% CI], 0.64 [0.54–0.70]; P

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