Table 1.

Patient characteristics and baseline parameters

Patient	Sex	Age (years)	Apache II (at ICU admission)	ICU stay at first study day	Days of intubation at first study day	Diagnostic group	Main admission diagnoses	Main comorbidity	PaO2/FiO2 (mmHg) or % Sat	PEEP (cmH2O)	ETT/T sizes (mm)
1	F	46	28	17	16	Postop	Peritonitis	Colon cancer	366	6	8
2	M	68	18	52	41	Medical	Severe pancreatitis	Hypertension	100%	5	8
3	M	82	14	6	5	Postop	Nosocomial pneumonia	Hypertension, CAD, CHF	218	5	8
4	M	82	21	11	11	Postop	Cardiac arrest	CABG, CHF, asthma	233	0	8
5	F	54	18	1	1	Medical	Respiratory failure	Poliomyelitis, kyphoscoliosis	276	5	7
6	F	18	23	36	36	Medical	Coma	Viral encephalitis	94%	7	7
7	M	26	19	3	3	Medical	Coma	Head trauma	128	7	8
8	F	69	25	7	7	Medical	Coma	Subarachnoid hemorrhage	128	10	8
9	M	51	17	26	26	Medical	Coma	Ischemic stroke, intracranial hypertension, craniectomy	96%	5	8
10	M	75	38	1	1	Medical	Severe CAP	Hypertension, stroke, leukemia	182	12	8.5
11	M	80	28	6	6	Trauma	Coma	Head trauma	98%	5	8
12	F	61	18	8	8	Medical	Bronchospasm	COPD, alcohol abuse, diabetes mellitus, chronic hepatitis and pancreatitis	120	7	8
13	F	80	36	11	11	Medical	Cardiac arrest	Complete atrio-ventricular bloc	270	6	7

CAD coronary artery disease, CHF congestive heart failure, CABG coronary artery bypass graft, CAP community-acquired pneumonia, COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, PaO2/FiO2 ratio of partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood to fraction of inspired oxygen, %Sat pulse-oxymetry saturation, PEEP positive end-expiratory pressure, ETT/T endotracheal tube/tracheostomy cannula inner diameter in mm