Mortality and cause of death in patients with tracheostomy: Longitudinal follow‐up study using a national sample cohort

Background The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long‐term mortality and cause of death in patients with tracheostomy. Methods Data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service‐Health Screening Cohort were collected from 2002 to 2013. A total of 2394 tracheostomy participants and 9536 control participants were included in this study. The crude and adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for tracheostomy‐associated mortality were analyzed. Subgroup analysis according to age and cause of death was analyzed. Results The tracheostomy group showed a significantly higher rate of death (69.1%) than the nontracheostomy group (13.3%). The adjusted HR for mortality was 13.5 in the tracheostomy group. The most common cause of death after tracheostomy was a circulatory disease, followed by neoplasm, respiratory disease, and trauma. Conclusions Patients with tracheostomy had a significantly increased long‐term mortality rate compared with patients with nontracheostomy. The circulatory disease was the most common cause of death following tracheostomy.