Research Article

A Novel Scale to Assess Humidification during Noninvasive Ventilation: A Prospective Observational Study

Table 1

Demographics of the enrolled patients.

VariablesTotal cohort
N = 33

Age, years73.7 ± 12.1
Male (%)27 (82%)
Diagnosis
 Pneumonia16 (49%)
 COPD14 (42%)
 Others3 (9%)
Underlying disease
 Hypertension18 (55%)
 Coronary heart disease7 (21%)
 Pulmonary heart disease6 (18%)
 Diabetes6 (18%)
 Chronic heart failure4 (12%)
 Tumor3 (9%)
 Cerebral infarction2 (6%)
Ventilator parameters#
 Ventilation modeS/T
 IPAP, cmH2O16.8 ± 2.6
 EPAP, cmH2O7.6 ± 1.5
 FiO2 (%)39.4 ± 9.4
 Air leak, L/min54.7 ± 19.7
, mL/min542 ± 159
 MV, L/min13.1 ± 4.2
 Measured respiratory rate, breaths/min25 ± 6

#We enrolled 33 patients and performed 36 assessments. COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, IPAP = inspiratory positive airway pressure, EPAP = expiratory positive airway pressure,  = tidal volume, MV = minute ventilation.