Investigation of Ventilator Associated Pneumoniae in Intensive Care Patients

Objective: Mechanical ventilator\udassociated pneumonia is a serious infection\udoccurred frequently in intensive care units and\udassociated with high mortality. In this study we\udaimed to investigate the incidence of ventilator\udassociated pneumonia, the duration of mechanical\udventilation, length of intensive care unit stay,\udcomplication occurrence and mortality rates on\udpatients undergoing mechanical ventilation for\udmore than 48 hours.\udMaterial and Method: Two hundred twenty\udpatients were included in the study. Demographic\uddata at the time of the admission to intensive\udcare unit (age, sex, height, weight and body mass\udindex), intensive care admission diagnosis and\udsystemic diseases were all recorded. The clinical\udpulmonary infection score was used for ventilator\udassociated pneumonia diagnosis. Antibiotic usage,\udduration of stay in intensive care unit, duration of\udmechanical ventilation stay and mortality were all\udrecorded.\udResults: Ventilator-associated pneumonia was\uddetected in 51.36% (n=113) of the 220 patients.\udClinical pulmonary infection score was found as\ud8.04±1.03 in patients with ventilator-associated\udpneumonia and 1.75±1.88 in non- ventilatorassociated\udpneumonia patients (p=0.001).\udHigher age was detected in ventilator-associated\udpneumonia group (58±12.79 years and 51.37±15.87\udyears, p=0.001). Also hypertension and diabetes\udmellitus were observed more frequently (p=0.001).\udDevelopment of enteral nutrition in patients with\udventilator-associated pneumonia were significantly\udhigher than those of parenterally fed patients\ud(enteral: by 36.4% and 25.5% p=0.006; parenteral:\ud25% and 19.1%, p=0.042). The length of stay in\udintensive care unit (12.38±5.81 and 10.79±5.91\uddays, p=0.045), duration of mechanical ventilation\ud(9.67±4.84 days and 6.7±3.87 days, p=0.001) and\udmortality rates (24.5% and 15.5% p=0.019) were\udsignificantly higher in the ventilator-associated\udpneumonia group.\udConclusion: Ventilator-associated pneumonia\udincreases the duration of mechanical ventilation,\udlength of Intensive Care Unit stay, antibiotic usage\udand mortality