[Effects of Respiratory Muscle Training on the Incidence of Pneumonia in Neurological and Neurosurgical Early Rehabilitation: Results from a Matched-Pair Analysis].

Background: Most disorders in neurological and neurosurgical early rehabilitation (NNER) are associated with an increased pneumonia risk. Respiratory therapy aims to prevent respiratory complications. However, there are no studies showing an effect of respiratory muscle training on the incidence of pneumonia in NNER.

Method: The study included 81 phase-B-patients receiving respiratory muscle training and 81 control patients. Routine data such as age, sex, diagnoses, and comorbidities, length of stay, information on ventilation and incidence of pneumonia were analyzed retrospectively.

Results: The development of pneumonia was associated with a longer duration of treatment, a higher number of ventilation hours, the presence of a tracheal canula, and a tendency to lower Early Rehabilitation Barthel-Index on admission. The incidence rate of nosocomial pneumonia was 20% in both study groups. The groups differed significantly in disease severity on admission, duration of treatment, number of dysphagia patients, and in therapy intensities of physio and speech therapy.

Conclusion: A direct correlation between the respiratory muscle training and the incidence of pneumonia in the NNER could not be conclusively demonstrated due to the insufficient comparability of both study groups. Besides the duration of ventilation, the intensity of dysphagia therapy was the strongest factor influencing the pneumonia incidence.