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. 2025 Jan 17.
doi: 10.1038/s41372-024-02205-w. Online ahead of print.

Long-term feeding outcomes after infant tracheostomy

Elena Stekolchik  1 , Md Jobayer Hossain  2 , J Heather Northam  3 , Seema Rani  4 , Abigail Strang  4 , Aaron Chidekel  4
Affiliations

Long-term feeding outcomes after infant tracheostomy

Elena Stekolchik et al. J Perinatol. .

Abstract

Objective: To characterize long-term feeding outcomes in infants who underwent tracheostomy prior to their first birthday.

Study design: Retrospective review of feeding outcomes at initial hospital discharge and age 5 in a cohort of infants who underwent tracheostomy at a children's hospital over a 16-year period.

Results: 145 infants met inclusion criteria. In this cohort, 117 were feeding tube dependent at time of initial hospital discharge and 71 were feeding tube dependent age 5. Cardiovascular comorbidities (p = 0.009), long-term tracheostomy dependence (p < 0.001), higher birth weight (p = 0.011), older age at tracheostomy decannulation (p < 0.001) and older gestational age (p = 0.007) were factors associated with feeding tube dependence at age 5.

Conclusion: The long-term feeding outcomes of infants who require tracheostomy demonstrate high levels of feeding impairment at age 5.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The Nemours Children’s Health Institutional Review Board deemed this retrospective review study exempt (#1743616) with a waiver of the requirement for obtaining informed consent based on the applicable federal regulation. All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations.

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