Early neurological wake‐up test in intubated patients with traumatic brain injury

Dublin Core

Title

Early neurological wake‐up test in intubated patients with traumatic brain injury

Subject

Traumatic brain injury, Mechanical ventilation, Sedation, Neurological wake-up test, Prognosis

Description

Abstract
Background Daily wake-up has been implemented widely in intensive care units (ICU) and could improve
the patients’ prognosis. However, little is known about the benefit of early neurological wake-up test (ENWT)
in patients with acute traumatic brain injury (TBI). We aimed to investigate the role of ENWT as a clinical monitoring
tool for TBI and its association with prognosis.
Methods This is an observational retrospective study included intubated and continuously sedated TBI in ICU, and all

data were extracted from three tertiary hospitals from China. The main exposure of interest was ENWT, defined as ces-
sation of sedation within 24 h after admission. The primary outcome was 28-day mortality. Propensity score matching

(PSM) was performed at a 1:1 ratio. Multivariable analyses were further used to adjust for residual confounders.
Results The pre-matched and propensity score-matched cohorts included 1386 and 704 patients, respectively.
In the PSM analysis, 28-day mortality was 24.7% (87/352) in the ENWT group and 37.2% (131/352) in the control
group. ENWT was associated with lower 28-day mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 0.57; 95% CI, 0.44–0.76; P<0.001). ENWT
was also associated with lower in-hospital mortality (odds ratio [OR], 0.54; 95% CI, 0.38–0.77; P=0.001), and higher

discharge-home rate (OR, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.19–2.83; P=0.006). A sensitivity analysis using the entire cohort also dem-
onstrated lower 28-day mortality (HR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.44–0.75; P<0.001). However, it should be noted that ENWT

was related to a higher rate of delirium during ICU stay (OR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.21–2.26; P=0.001). Further analysis demon-
strated that tracheostomy during ICU stay led to a significant difference in 28-day mortality.

Conclusion ENWT was associated with a lower risk-adjusted 28-day mortality in acute TBI patients. A higher rate
of tracheostomy may partly contribute to this relationship.
Keywords Traumatic brain injury, Mechanical ventilation, Sedation, Neurological wake-up test, Prognosis

Creator

Meng Jiang1*†, Chang‐li Li2†, Xiao‐peng Wu3†, Xing‐chen Lin1

, Yuan‐run Zhu4

, Li‐gang Xu5 and Xiao‐feng Yang1*

Source

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12245-025-00867-7

Date

2025

Contributor

Peri Irawan

Format

pdf

Language

english

Type

text

Files

Citation

Meng Jiang1*†, Chang‐li Li2†, Xiao‐peng Wu3†, Xing‐chen Lin1 , Yuan‐run Zhu4 , Li‐gang Xu5 and Xiao‐feng Yang1*, “Early neurological wake‐up test in intubated patients with traumatic brain injury,” Repository Horizon University Indonesia, accessed April 11, 2026, https://repository.horizon.ac.id/items/show/12737.