Prevalence of Ventilator Acquired Pneumonia in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

Abstract

Objective: To determine the incidence of ventilator acquired pneumonia (VAP) and its etiological factors and outcomes of VAP patients in a local hospital setting.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in ICU of Nishtar Medical Hospital. We collated the data of 100 patients who
admitted in ICU of the hospital between Jan-2017 to Jan-2018. Patients who underwent mechanical ventilation >48 hours in
ICU having age > 20 years were included in analysis. Occurrence of Pneumonia more than 48 hours after mechanical ventilation
was diagnosed as VAP. Microbial spectrum causing VAP was determined.
Results: There were 59% male patients and 41% female patients. Regarding causes of admission, 38% patients presented with
respiratory disease and 24% with cardiovascular disease, 23% with neurological disease and 7.0% post-surgery. VAP was
diagnosed in 31% patients admitted in ICU. Hospital stay, incidence of tracheostomy, sepsis and mortality was significantly
high in VAP patients as compared to Non-VAP (P-values <0.001, 0.005, 0.005 and <0.001 respectively). Pseudomonas aeruginosa
was the commonest organism diagnosed in 38.7% VAP patients, Acinetobacter baumanni in 22.5%, and MRSA in 19.3%.
Conclusion: Ventilator acquired pneumonia is a common complication in patients admitted in ICU. It is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumanni and MRSA are common bacteria in VAP patients.
Keywords: Ventilator acquired pneumonia, Hospital stay, Mortality, Microbial spectrum.