Frequency and importance of barotrauma in 100 patients with acute lung injury

Abstract

Barotrauma occurred in only 13% of patients with acute lung injury. Barotrauma was an independent marker of mortality when adjusted for other predictors of mortality. However, barotrauma directly contributed to < 2% of all deaths. We hypothesize that barotrauma is an indication of severity of acute lung injury rather than a major cause of increased mortality.