A large US study has provided new insights into significant risk factors associated with acute respiratory failure (ARF) in status epilepticus (SE).
ARF is known to be associated with a higher morbidity and mortality in SE patients. To investigate possible risk factors for ARF in this patient group, researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center, in Houston, USA, analyzed data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database for patients admitted with a diagnosis of SE over a 15-month period.
They identified a total of 78,194 patients (mean age 41 years), of whom 17.9% developed ARF.
A multivariate regression analysis revealed that significant risk factors for ARF were (all P-values <0.001):