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Annals of Intensive Care

Table 1 Patient characteristics

From: “I had the feeling that I was trapped”: a bedside qualitative study of cognitive and affective attitudes toward noninvasive ventilation in patients with acute respiratory failure

Gender 5 men
5 women
Age (years) 73 [51–79]
Indication for ICU admission Acute respiratory failure/COPD: 3
Cardiogenic pulmonary edema: 2
Chest trauma: 1
Acute respiratory failure/ALS: 2
Pneumonia: 2a (complicating lymphoma in 1 case)
Room air blood gases on admission or just before
 pH 7.34 [7.22–7.41]
 PaO2 (mmHg) 63 [42–82]
 PaCO2 (mmHg) 48 [36–74]a
Description of noninvasive ventilation
 Facial mask All patients
 Pressure support mode All patients
 FiO2 (%) 40 [30–70]
 Pressure support level (cm H2O) 12 [8–24]
 Positive end-expiratory pressure (cm H2O) 5 [4–9]
 Number of NIV sessions before the interview 5 [4–7]
Description of the ICU stayb
 Duration (days) 6 [4–17]
 NIV days 4 [2–11]
  1. All numerical data provided as median [min − max]
  2. ICU intensive care unit, COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ALS amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, PaO2 oxygen partial pressure in the arterial blood, PaCO2 carbon dioxide partial pressure in the arterial blood
  3. aAll patients were hypercapnic with PaCO2 > 45 mmHg, except 2 (PaCO2 36 mmHg)
  4. bAll patients were discharged alive from the ICU; none were intubated during their stay; post-hospitalization home mechanical ventilation was instituted in three cases
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