Morbidity and mortality patterns of ventilator-dependent children in a home care program.

We evaluated the effectiveness of the Home Care Program of Children's Hospital of Winnipeg for ventilator-dependent children by retrospectively examining morbidity and mortality from February 1, 1979, to July 31, 1992. For the 22 study subjects, the cause of chronic respiratory failure was neurologic disorders for 14 (64%) (group A) and pulmonary disorders for eight (36%) (group B). There were no significant differences between groups A and B in the average number of hospital days, readmission rate, or length of stay per admission.