Covariates
Demographic and patient characteristics that might influence 3-year
respiratory support needs, decannulation, and death were obtained from
the EMR including age, sex, race, ethnicity, insurance type, comorbid
diagnoses, and home ventilator use. Sex, race, and ethnicity were
included as covariates to describe the population and were not treated
as biologic constructs. Encounter-level diagnoses were pooled across
each child’s encounters over time and coded to identify complex chronic
conditions (CCCs) using previously-defined ICD-9 and -10
codes.22 Home ventilator use was defined at the time
of first Pulmonary visit after hospital discharge as the requirement,
when well, for mechanical ventilation for any portion of the day/night
and for any duration after initial discharge with tracheostomy until 3
years after placement. Initial hospital discharge typically occurs
several months after tracheostomy placement at our institution.