Comparing postinduction hypoxemia between ramped and supine position endotracheal intubations with apneic oxygenation in the emergency department.

Introduction: Ramped position and apneic oxygenation are strategies to mitigate hypoxemia; however, the benefits of these strategies when utilized together remain unclear. Therefore, we compared first-attempt, postinduction hypoxemia between adult emergency department (ED) endotracheal intubations performed with apneic oxygenation in the ramped versus supine positions.

Methods: We used the National Emergency Airway Registry (NEAR), a multicenter registry of data on ED intubations from 25 academic and community sites. We included first-attempt intubations with direct (DL) and video (VL) laryngoscopy in subjects ≥ 18 years old with nontrauma indications receiving apneic oxygenation. We examined patient characteristics (e.g., sex, obesity) and key intubation outcomes, including hypoxemia (primary outcome), first-pass success, and other adverse events (e.g., bradycardia). In addition, we examined unadjusted odds ratios (OR) and adjusted ORs (aOR) for key variables and stratified by laryngoscope type.

Results: We included 210 ramped cases and 1,820 supine cases in the DL cohort and 202 ramped and 1,626 supine cases in the VL cohort. Rates of postinduction hypoxemia were similar between supine and ramped position in both the DL cohort (supine 6.5% and ramped 7.6%, aOR [95% CI] = 0.96 [0.55 to 1.67]) and the VL cohort (supine 10.1% and ramped 12.4%, aOR [95% CI] = 0.97 [0.60 to 1.56]). Other outcomes were also similar between groups.

Conclusion: Using this large national data set, we did not identify a difference in postinduction hypoxemia between ramped and supine positions in this cohort of ED intubations with apneic oxygenation.