Tracheal intubation in critical care is a high-risk procedure requiring significant expertise and airway strategy modifications, such as awake intubation with video laryngoscope or flexible endoscope intubation. Furthermore, delayed sequence intubation can be used by experts in certain high-risk subgroups. The investigators hypothesise that awake tracheal intubation is associated with a lower incidence of severe adverse events than standard tracheal intubation in critical care patients.

Intubation records from 2020 to 2022 were acquired to examine all tracheal intubations of critical care patients at a tertiary hospital. Each awake tracheal intubation (awake) case - all of which were performed using a videolaryngoscope with a hyperangulated blade - was propensity matched with two controls (1:2 ratio; standard intubation videolaryngoscopy (VL) and direct laryngoscopy (DL) undergoing general anaesthesia), with similar comorbidities and intubations performed after the induction of anaesthesia (asleep).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Data for all critical care patients requiring tracheal intubation during the study period

Exclusion Criteria:

• included incomplete data reports

critical care patients requiring tracheal intubation