Incidence of prolonged time to tracheal extubation and its associated factors among adult patients undergoing elective surgery at Jimma Medical Center, Jimma, Oromia, Ethiopia, 2024.

Purpose: Extubation refers to removing the breathing tube from the patient's airway after surgery under general anesthesia with tracheal intubation. Extubation procedures typically take less than 15 min, and if they take more, they are prolonged. Whether or not to extubate a patient depends on several factors, including the patient's preoperative status, the type of surgery, anesthetic methods, and expected recovery after the procedure. Thus, the study's objective was to determine the incidence of prolonged extubation and its associated factors among adult patients undergoing surgery at Jimma Medical Center.

Methods: A prospective observational study through a consecutive sampling technique was conducted. Ethical clearance and approval were obtained from the institutional review board of Jimma University. Data on the extubation time and possible associated factors for a prolonged extubation time were collected using a data collection checklist. After being entered into EpiData 4.6 and exported into SPSS 25, descriptive analyses and logistic regression were carried out. In multivariate variables, p ≤ 0.05 was declared as statistical significance.

Result: Three-hundred eight adult patients were enrolled in the current study. Of these, the incidence of prolonged extubation was 24.7% (95% CI [20.0-29.9]). The identified associated factors were age ≥ 55 years (AOR = 5.7, 95% CI [2.62, 12.69], p ≤ 001); ASAPS > II (AOR = 4.27, 95% CI [1.59, 11.45], p = 004); BMI ≥ 30 kg/m² (AOR = 6.6, 95% CI [2.37, 18.36], p ≤ 001); the use of benzodiazepine (AOR = 3.43, 95% CI [1.42, 8.25], p = 0.006); using of isoflurane (AOR = 0.35, 95% CI [0.15, 0.78], p = 0.011); prone position (AOR = 4.68, 95% CI [1.56, 14.07], p = 0.006); extubation in afternoon (AOR = 2.69, 95% CI [1.26, 5.74]; p = 0.011); and duration of surgery ≥ 210 min (AOR = 5.2, 95% CI [2.32, 11.72], p ≤ 0.001).

Conclusions: The study found that prolonged time to extubation occurred in one-fourth of the patients. The independent factors statistically associated with prolonged extubation were older ages, higher ASA class, obesity (≥ 30 kg/m²), the use of benzodiazepine, halothane for maintenance, prone position, extubation in the afternoon, and longer procedures (≥ 210 min).