Noninvasive positive pressure ventilation for the treatment of acute hypoxic respiratory failure with altered consciousness level

Background: A severely altered level of consciousness has been considered a possible contraindication to noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV). We compared the clinical outcome of patients with acute hypoxic respiratory failure and different degrees of conscious levels. Methods: This retrospective study comprised 132 patients who visited our emergency room for acute hypoxic respiratory failure and received NPPV from January 2013 to June 2015. Comparing the patients with and without altered level of consciousness, we investigated their clinical outcomes. Result: Fifty (37%) of the 132 patients who received NPPV had altered level of consciousness. Although patient with higher age, higher APATCHII score, higher IPAP, and pneumonia tended to be unclear conscious level (p= No correlation was either found when using multivariate analysis (p=0.27). Conclusion: This study confirms that NPPV may be safely applied to patients with acute respiratory failure with altered conscious level.