Identification of four latent classes of acute respiratory distress syndrome using PaO2/FIO2 ratio: an observational cohort study

Biological phenotypes in patients with the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) have previously been described. We hypothesized that the trajectory of PaO 2 /F I O 2 ratio could be used to identify phenotypes of ARDS. We used a retrospective cohort analysis of an ARDS database to identify latent classes in the trajectory of PaO 2 /F I O 2 ratio over time. We included all adult patients admitted to an intensive care unit who met the Berlin criteria for ARDS over a 4-year period in tertiary adult intensive care units in Manitoba, Canada. Baseline demographics were collected along with the daily PaO 2 /F I O 2 ratio collected on admission and on days 1–7, 14 and 28. We used joint growth mixture modeling to test whether ARDS patients exhibit distinct phenotypes with respect to both longitudinal PaO 2 /F I O 2 ratio and survival. The resulting latent classes were compared on several demographic variables. In our study group of 209 patients, we found that four latent trajectory classes of PaO 2 /F I O 2 ratio was optimal. These four classes differed in their baseline PaO 2 /F I O 2 ratio and their trajectory of improvement during the 28 days of the study. Despite similar baseline characteristics the hazard for death for the classes differed over time. This difference was largely driven by withdrawal of life sustaining therapy in one of the classes. Latent classes were identified in the trajectory of the PaO 2 /F I O 2 ratio over time, suggesting the presence of different ARDS phenotypes. Future studies should confirm the existence of this finding and determine the cause of mortality differences between classes.