ICU-acquired pneumonia in immunosuppressed patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure: A post-hoc analysis of a prospective international cohort study.

OBJECTIVE

Intensive Care Units (ICU) acquired Pneumonia (ICU-AP) is one of the most frequent nosocomial infections in critically ill patients. Our aim was to determine the effects of having an ICU-AP in immunosuppressed patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure.

DESIGN

Post-hoc analysis of a multinational, prospective cohort study in 16 countries.

SETTINGS

ICU.

PATIENTS

Immunosuppressed patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure.

INTERVENTION

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

The original cohort had 1611 and in this post-hoc analysis a total of 1512 patients with available data on hospital mortality and occurrence of ICU-AP were included. ICU-AP occurred in 158 patients (10.4%). Hospital mortality was higher in patients with ICU-AP (14.8% vs. 7.1% p < 0.001). After adjustment for confounders and centre effect, use of vasopressors (Odds Ratio (OR) 2.22; 95%CI 1.46-3.39) and invasive mechanical ventilation at day 1 (OR 2.12 vs. high flow oxygen; 95%CI 1.07-4.20) were associated with increased risk of ICU-AP while female gender (OR 0.63; 95%CI 0.43-94) and chronic kidney disease (OR 0.43; 95%CI 0.22-0.88) were associated with decreased risk of ICU-AP. After adjustment for confounders and centre effect, ICU-AP was independently associated with mortality (Hazard Ratio 1.48; 95%CI 14.-1.91; P = 0.003).

CONCLUSIONS

The attributable mortality of ICU-AP has been repetitively questioned in immunosuppressed patients with acute respiratory failure. This manuscript found that ICU-AP represents an independent risk factor for hospital mortality.