TY - JOUR T1 - Absence Of Airway Secretion Accumulation Predicts Tolerance To Noninvasive Ventilation In Als. JF - Respiratory Care DO - 10.4187/respcare.02103 SP - respcare.02103 AU - Nadia Vandenberghe AU - Anne-Evelyne Vallet AU - Thierry Petitjean AU - Pierre Le Cam AU - Stéphane Peysson AU - Claude Guerin AU - Frédéric Dailler AU - Sylvie Jay AU - Vincent Cadiergue AU - Françoise Bouhour AU - Isabelle Court-Fortune AU - Jean-Philippe Camdessanche AU - Jean-Christophe Antoine AU - François Philit AU - Pascal Beuret AU - Sylvie Bin-Dorel AU - Christophe Vial AU - Emmanuel Broussolle Y1 - 2013/01/15 UR - http://rc.rcjournal.com/content/early/2013/01/15/respcare.02103.abstract N2 - BACKGROUND: This study aimed to assess factors which predict good tolerance of noninvasive ventilation (NIV), in order to improve survival and quality of life in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. METHODS: We conducted a prospective study on ALS patients requiring NIV. The study’s primary endpoint was NIV tolerance at one month. Patients, several of whom failed to complete the study, were classified as ‘tolerant’ or ‘poorly tolerant’ according to the number of hours of NIV use (more or less than 4 hours per night, respectively). RESULTS: 81 patients, 73 of whom also attended the one-month follow-up visit, participated over 34 months. NIV tolerance after the first day of utilisation predicted tolerance at 1 month (77.6 % and 75.3 % of patients, respectively). Multivariate analysis disclosed three factors predicting good NIV tolerance: 1° absence of airway secretion accumulation prior to NIV onset (odds ratio, OR=11.5); 2° normal bulbar function at initiation of NIV (OR= 8.5) and 3° older age (weakly significant, OR=1.1). CONCLUSION: Our study reveals three factors which are predictive of good NIV tolerance, in particular the absence of airway secretion accumulation, which should prompt NIV initiation before its appearance. ER -