SIGNS AND ETIOLOGIES OF RESPIRATORY DISTRESS AMONG MECHANICALLY VENTILATED PATIENTS ATTENDING CHITWAN MEDICAL COLLEGE, BHARATPUR

Background: Respiratory distress (RD) in mechanically ventilated patients may signify life-threatening complications which may be potentially reversible. The aim of the study was to determine the signs and etiologies of respiratory distress in patients under mechanical ventilation. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was done on adult patients on mechanical ventilation (MV) with Respiratory distress admitted at Chitwan Medical College, Nepal from January 2021 to June 2021.We studied various signs and etiologies of RD in different days on MV. Descriptive analysis was carried out using IBM SPSS version 20. Results: Total 66 patients were included in the study with mean  ± SD of age was 55.3 ± 15.8 years with equal proportion of male and female. Out of total 154 occurrences of 11 signs in 66 patients, agitation was the most common one occurring 29.3% of times followed by use of accessory muscle in 15.9%. Most common cause of respiratory distress was interstitial syndrome of increased extra-vascular lung water or density on ultrasound was present more in patients on MV for ≥ 5 days.  Most patients (74.2%) had multiple RD signs and 25.8% had only a single sign. Gasping was more common in patients on MV ≥ 5 days and agitation and delirium more in early days of MV. Conclusions: More than half of the conditions associated with RD on MV are relatively reversible and as the patients can develop RD any time or any day after being put on MV, a continued vigilance system is essential for their timely assessment and management.