Table 1.

Baseline characteristic of studies included in the systematic review and meta-analysis.

Study	Country	Setting	Sample size	Age, y	Percentage of male patients (%)	Disease severity	Tracheotomy methods	Early tracheotomy	Later tracheotomy	Jadad scale
Dunham 1984[26]	US	Trauma	74	17.0–75.0	NA	NA	Open	4 days	14 days	2
Rodriguez 1990[27]	US	Trauma	106	37.6	79.2	ISS: 28/27; GCS: 10/10	NA	1–7 days	>8 days	1
Sugerman 1997[28]	US	Mixed	112	NA	NA	NA	Both	5 days	14 days	3
Saffle 2002[29]	US	Burn	44	48.0	NA	NA	Open	4 days	14 days	4
Bouderka 2004[30]	Morocco	Head injury	62	40.6	61.3	SAPS score: 5.4/6.0	NA	5–6 days	Prolonged endotracheal intubation	4
Rumbak 2004[31]	US	Medical	120	63.0	54.2	APACHE II score: 27.4/26.3	Percutaneous	2 days	14 days	3
Barquist 2006[32]	US	Trauma	60	51.7	76.7	APACHE II score: 12.1/13.1	Open	8 days	28 days	4
Blot 2008[33]	France	Medical	123	56.5	71.5	SAPS II score: 50/50	Open	4 days	14 days	5
Terragni 2010[34]	Italy	Mixed	419	61.5	66.8	SAPS II score: 51.1/49.7	Percutaneous	8 days	15 days	5
Trouillet 2011[35]	France	After cardiac surgery	216	65.0	66.2	SAPS II score: 47.2/45.8	Percutaneous	5 days	15 days	5
Koch 2012[36]	Germany	Neurosurgery or neurotrauma	100	58.8	64.0	APACHE II score: 21.0/22.0	Percutaneous	4 days	6 days	4
Zheng 2012[37]	China	Medical	119	67.7	62.2	APACHE II score: 19.6/19.6	Percutaneous	3 days	15 days	3
Bösel 2013[38]	Germany	Neurological illness, neurosurgery, or neurotrauma	60	61.0	66.7	APACHE score: 16.0/17.0	Percutaneous	3 days	7 days	4
Young 2013[39]	UK	Mixed	899	63.9	58.6	APACHE II score: 19.6/20.1	Both	4 days	10 days	4
Diaz-Prieto 2014[40]	Spain	Mixed	489	64.7	67.3	APACHE II score: 20.0/19.0	Percutaneous	8 days	14 days	3