Characteristics of patients who did or did not undergo tracheostomy
| Tracheostomised (n=134) | Not tracheostomised (n=1126) | p | OR | |
| Sex (male/female) | 85/49 | 602/524 | 0.03 | 1.51 (1.04–2.19) |
| Site of onset (S/B) | 86/48 | 701/425 | NS | 1.08 (0.71–1.63) |
| Period* | 58/76 | 560/566 | NS | 0.77 (0.54–1.11) |
| EN (Y/N) | 71/63 | 211/915 | 0.0001 | 4.89 (3.37–7.08) |
| EN (Y/N)† | 51/63 | 211/915 | 0.0001 | 3.02 (2.25–3.96) |
| NIV (Y/N) | 39/95 | 203/923 | 0.002 | 1.86 (1.25–2.79) |
| ALS centres (Y/N) | 76/58 | 453/673 | 0.0003 | 1.95 (1.36–2.80) |
| Marital status* | 115/19 | 816/310 | 0.001 | 2.30 (1.37–3.86) |
| Educational level* | 27/107 | 135/991 | NS | 1.85 (0.88–3.26) |
| Mean age at onset (years) | 60.9 (10.7) | 65.2 (10.4) | 0.0001 | – |
| Mean age at diagnosis (years) | 61.7 (11.1) | 66.1 (11.0) | 0.0001 | – |
| Mean time onset-diagnosis (months) | 9.9 (8.3) | 10.4 (9.7) | NS | – |
ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; EN, enteral nutrition via percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy or percutaneous radiologic gastrostomy; NIV, non-invasive ventilation; NS, not significant; S/B, spinal/bulbar.
↵* Period, 1995/1999 versus 2000–2004; marital status, married versus unmarried, divorced or widow/widower; education level, high school or higher versus junior high school or lower.
↵† Excluding the 20 patients who performed EN after tracheostomy.