Abstract
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of mortality in the United States, costing the healthcare industry more than $40 billion. This mortality rate, as a result of COPD, increases each year. This paper is a systematic review of the effectiveness of non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) versus invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) in treating patients admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) due to exacerbated COPD. Failure rate, respiratory ICU mortality rate, and length of ICU stay were compared between the two modes of treatments for exacerbated COPD. Four studies met the review inclusion criteria. Based on the four studies included in the review, NIPPV is recommended by the authors since treatment outcomes based on mortality rate, failure rate, and length of stay in the ICU resulted in lower mortality, lower length of stay in the ICU, and a higher success rate as a treatment mode for exacerbated COPD.