Invasive ventilation and mortality in critically ill nonagenarians: a retrospective cohort study

In this selected cohort of ICU patients aged ≥ 90 years, invasive ventilation-particularly beyond 72 h-identified a subgroup with very high ICU and hospital mortality and greater illness severity. These observational data support using invasive ventilation in nonagenarians as a trigger for early, patient-centred goals-of-care discussions, rather than as evidence that ventilation itself causes excess mortality.