RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Mortality, Health Care Use, and Costs of Weaning Center Survivors and Matched Prolonged ICU Stay Controls JF Respiratory Care FD American Association for Respiratory Care SP 291 OP 300 DO 10.4187/respcare.09438 VO 67 IS 3 A1 Louise Rose A1 Erind Dvorani A1 Esha Homenauth A1 Laura Istanboulian A1 Ian Fraser YR 2022 UL http://rc.rcjournal.com/content/67/3/291.abstract AB BACKGROUND: Quantification of long-term survival, health care utilization, and costs of prolonged ventilator dependence informs patient/family decision-making, health care policy, and understanding of specialized weaning centers (SWCs) as alternate care models. Our objective was to compare survival trajectory, health care utilization, and costs of SWC survivors with a matched cohort of ≥ 21-d-stay ICU patients.METHODS: This was a retrospective longitudinal (12 y) case-control study linking to health administrative databases with matching on age, sex, Charlson comorbidity index, income quintiles, and days in ICU and hospital in preceding 12 months.RESULTS: We matched 201 SWC subjects to 201 prolonged ICU survivors (402-subject cohort); 42% had a Charlson score of > 4. Risk of death at 12 months was lower in SWC subjects (hazard ratio [HR] 0.70 [95% CI 0.54–0.91]) adjusting for length of hospital admission (HR 1.02 [95% CI 1.00–1.04]) and number of care location transfers (HR 0.84 [95% CI 0.75–0.93]). By follow-up end, more SWC subjects died, 149 (73%) versus 127 (62%). We found no difference in discharge to home. At 12 months, acute health care utilization was comparable for the entire cohort, except hospital readmission rates (median interquartile range [IQR] 2 [1–3) vs 1 [1–2] d). Median (IQR) cost 12 months after unit discharge was CAD $68,165 ($19,894–$153,475). 12-month costs were higher in the SWC survivors (CAD $82,874 [$29,942–$224,965] vs CAD $55,574 [$6,572–$128,962], P < .001). SWC survivors had higher community health care utilization. Regression modeling demonstrated cost was associated with stay and care transfers but not SWC admission. Over 12-y follow-up, health care utilization and costs were higher in SWC survivors.CONCLUSIONS: SWC admission may confer some medium-term survival advantage; however, this may be influenced by selection bias associated with admission criteria.