Table 1.

Patient characteristics and indications of tracheostomy

	ET group n=51	LT group n=32	P
Age (years) a	57.16±18.11	63.53±17.77	0.120
Genderb
Male	40 (78.4%)	19 (59.4%)	0.062
Female	11 (21.6%)	13 (40.6%)
APACHE II scorea	21.25±5.62	21.84±7.22	0.679
Percutaneous techniqueb	34 (66.7%)	26 (81.3%)	0.149
Reason for tracheostomy
Respiratoryb,#	13 (25.5%)	15 (46.9%)	0.045
Neurologicalb,$	38 (74.5%)	17 (53.1%)

ET=early tracheostomy, LT=late tracheostomy, SD=standard deviation, GCS=Glasgow Coma Scale.^aMean±SD. ^bNumber. ^#Acute respiratory failure, neuromuscular weakness. $Low GCS