Comparing high-flow nasal cannula and non-invasive ventilation in critical care: insights from deep counterfactual inference.

ABSTRACT: Randomized trials comparing high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) and non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NIV) for acute respiratory failure (ARF) offer population-level guidance but often fail to capture individual variability in treatment response. In this retrospective study, we identified intensive care units (ICU) patients at risk of invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) using a previously published risk prediction model. Patients who first received HFNC or NIV after crossing the high-risk threshold formed the early treatment cohort. We developed a deep counterfactual model that integrates representation learning, conditional normalizing flows, and confounder adjustment to estimate individualized treatment effects (ITEs) between HFNC and NIV. Treatment concordance, defined as alignme

SUBMITTER: Lu X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12678170 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature