RESEARCH ARTICLE Trend Analysis and Outcome Prediction in Mechanically Ventilated Patients: A Nationwide Population-Based Study in

Objective To investigate the relationship between changes in patient attributes and hospital attributes over time and to explore predictors of medical utilization and mortality rates in mechanical ventilation (MV) patients in Taiwan. Background Providing effective medical care for MV patients is challenging and requires good planning and effective clinical decision making policies. Most studies of MV, however, have only ana-lyzed a single regional ventilator weaning center or respiratory care unit, high-quality population-based studies of MV trends and outcomes are scarce. Methods This population-based cohort study retrospectively analyzed 213,945 MV patients treated during 2004-2009. Results During the study period, the percentages of MV patients with the following characteristic