Table 2 Patient characteristics

Number of patients

71

Median age (years)

66

(range 4-95)

Gender

 female

33

(46.5%)

 male

16

(22.5%)

 not specified

22

(31.0%)

Main diagnosis

 pulmonary disease

15

(21.1%)

 neurologic disease

18

(25.4%)

 trauma

9

(12.7%)

 cardiac disease

5

(7.0%)

 surgical procedure

4

(5.6%)

 vascular disease

3

(4.2%)

 not specified

17

(23.9%)

Type of intensive care unit

 interdisciplinary

13

(18.3%)

 surgical

11

(15.5%)

 medical

7

(9.9%)

 neurological

6

(8.5%)

 cardiothoracic

1

(1.4%)

 trauma

3

(4.2%)

 not specified

30

(42.3%)

Median duration of intubation before tracheostomy (days)

11

(range 0-33)