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Summary of our research
A Japanese multicenter study group led by Professor Kei Suzuki of the Advanced Emergency and Critical Care Center (Emergency Department) at Mie University Hospital, has found that when signs of deterioration (VAE*) are observed in critically ill patients on mechanical ventilation, their subsequent mortality rate increases by approximately twofold. Previous studies suggested that VAE is associated with mortality, however, the validity of this finding has been questioned. This study employed advanced statistical methods to adjust for changes in patient severity over time, thereby revealing more detailed and accurate associations. The findings were published in the highly authoritative intensive care medicine journal "Intensive Care Medicine (5-year Journal Impact Factor: 25.7)" on September 1, 2025.
Meanwhile, in Japan, despite the lack of verification that VAE is a useful indicator for critically ill patients, some facilities had prematurely launched public surveillance programs, treating it as a medical quality indicator. Despite the uncertain benefits of VAE, medical resources and effort have been devoted to its surveillance, however, our study has now added evidence to the field. It is expected to be fully implemented as a new indicator for measuring the quality of intensive care going forward.
＊VAE: Ventilator-Associated Event
Researcher information
Journal： Intensive Care Medicine
Published： 2025、Volume 51、Pages 1764-1774
Title： A reappraisal of association between ventilator-associated events and mortality among critically ill patients using marginal structural model: multicenter observational study.
Authors： Nakahashi S, Suzuki K, Nakashima T, Hayashi Y, Tanabe Y, Tanaka A, Hashiuchi S, Yamashita C, Ito Y, Wada T, Yamashita A, Shima M, Hoshino T, Moriyama K, Kazuma S, Lee HA, Yamaguchi Y, Nakamura Y, Kawanobe Y, Sofue T, Nishimura Y, Shinozaki T, Goto T, Hashimoto S, Fujino Y, Shime N; Japan VAE study Investigators Group.
URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00134-025-08074-x
DOI: 10.1007/s00134-025-08074-x
Researcher information
SUZUKI Kei
The Emergency and Critical Care Center, Mie University Hospital, Professor and Director
Specialized area：
Emergency medicine, Intensive Care Medicine, Infectiology
Current research field：
・Clinical and Basic Research on Severe Infectious Disease and Coagulation Disorders Associated with Sepsis.
・Training Mie Prefecture-Style Emergency and Critical Care Physicians as Super Generalists