Results
The most common indication for tracheostomy among the 321 patients that met inclusion criteria was airway obstruction or a head and neck cancer surgical procedure. Obstructive pulmonary pathology (COPD, OSA, asthma) was moderately associated with acute complications in bivariate analysis (13.4% complications, p = 0.039). Among the secondary outcomes measured, radiation was associated with early complications occurring in post-operative days 0-6 (1.1%, p = 0.029).