Data collection and outcome measures
cough, dry mouth, coma, Comorbidity
DRY MOUTH, COMA
Participant characteristics abstracted from medical records included age, sex, body mass index, Charlson Comorbidity Index, ICU admission diagnosis, illness severity (Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation II [APACHE II]), size of endotracheal tube, and length of intubation (in days). After participants were successfully extubated, their level of consciousness (measured on the Glasgow coma scale), oxygen demand (room air, nasal cannula, simple mask, and nonrebreathing mask [NRM] or noninvasive positive pressure ventilation [NPPV]), functional status on oral stereognosis (able to identify three shapes of lollipop-style test pieses [yes, no]) and cough reflex (able to cough during 0.4 mol/L citric acid inhalation trial, [yes, no]), nothing-by-mouth status (8-h postextubation), and presence of dry mouth were evaluated by outcome assessors. As an important covariate in our previous studies [