Table 3.
Intensive care unit clinical management in patients who received or did not receive neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs)
| Unmatched cohort (N = 1953) |
Propensity score-matched cohort (N = 420) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parameter | Control (N = 1711) |
NMBA treatment (N = 242) |
Control (N = 210) |
NMBA treatment (N = 210) |
| Vasopressor/Inotropic support n (%) | 1556 (90.9%) | 197 (81.4%) | 180 (85.7%) | 175 (83.3%) |
| Antibiotics n (%) | 1629 (97.4%) | 219 (96.5%) | 194 (94.2%) | 192 (96.5%) |
| Any antiviral n (%) | 1399 (82.8%) | 160 (70.5%) | 154 (73.7%) | 142 (71.7%) |
| Remdesivir n (%) | 270 (16.1%) | 38 (16.2%) | 39 (18.8%) | 34 (16.6%) |
| Use of corticosteroids (%) | 364 (21.3%) | 48 (19.8%) | 48 (22.9%) | 40 (19.0%) |
| Continuous renal replacement therapy n (%) | 16 (0.9%) | 11 (4.5%) | 1 (0.5%) | 10 (4.8%) |
| Vasoactive drugs n (%) | 1483 (89.6%) | 185 (81.1%) | 178 (86.8%) | 163 (81.5%) |
| Cardiac-assist devices n (%) | 1 (0.1%) | 4 (1.7%) | 0 (0.0%) | 3 (1.4%) |
| ECMO n (%) | 132 (7.7%) | 36 (14.9%) | 14 (6.7%) | 35 (16.7%) |
| Prone positioning n (%) | 148 (8.6%) | 52 (21.5%) | 22 (10.5%) | 46 (21.9%) |
| Use of iNO n (%) | 2 (0.1%) | 4 (1.7%) | 1 (0.5%) | 4 (1.9%) |
| Use of recruitment maneuvers n (%) | 11 (0.6%) | 20 (8.3%) | 3 (1.4%) | 19 (9.0%) |
| Pneumothorax n (%) | 208 (12.4%) | 22 (9.6%) | 19 (9.6%) | 21 (10.4%) |
| Duration of mechanical ventilation (days) median (IQR) | 2 (2–4) | 4 (3–13) | 2 (2–10) | 4 (3–13) |
| Duration of ICU stay (days) median (IQR)* | 19 (10–34) | 16 (8–27) | 16 (8–29) | 16 (8–27) |
| Time from ICU admission to death (days) median (IQR) | 12 (6–23) | 11 (5–18) | 8 (2–22) | 11 (4–19) |
| Time from commencement of MV to death (days) median (IQR) | 9 (4–20) | 10 (2–16) | 5 (1–17) | 9 (2–18) |
NMBA treatment was defined as at least 2 days of continuous use of NMBAs or up to 3 days, within 48 h from commencement of IMV
IMV, invasive mechanical ventilation; ECMO, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation; iNO, inhaled nitric oxide