Incidence of pneumonia in an intensive care unit of a teaching hospital in Fortaleza - CE - doi: 10.5020/18061230.2012.s20

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of pneumonia in an intensive care unit (ICU) of a teaching hospital in Fortaleza - CE, Brazil, verifying the mortality of patients with ventilatorassociated pneumonia (VAP) and identifying possible risk factors for VAP. Methods: A quantitative, case series, and observational study conducted from January 2007 to January 2009 in an ICU of a teaching hospital of Fortaleza, attended by patients of both sexes, aged above 18 years, intubated or tracheostomized by making use of mechanical ventilation (MV) with a minimum of 24 hours. The data collection instrument was composed of items: age, sex, length of stay, diagnosis, hospital course, cultures requested, infectious microorganisms and antibiotics. The subjects were 74 patients on MV, 29 (38.03%) men and 45 (61.97%) women, with an average age of 58 years, remaining in the ICU on average 19.45 days and under ventilation, on average, 15.78 days. Results: It was found that 70 (94.6%) patients had pneumonia (PN), and the most frequent microorganisms were Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Actinobacter Balmani. Only 4 (5.4%) were not infected, 34 (45.9%) patients subsequently died and 40 (54.1%) were transferred from the ICU, 42 patients used nasoenteral tube and / or nasogastric tube. Conclusions: VAP was present in most of the population studied. The nasoentereal tube, as well as the nasogastric tube, represents risk factor for the development of VAP, however, was not possible to determine the factors that probably cause the PN.