Ventilator Associated Pneumonia in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: Incidence, Risk Factors and Etiological Agents

To study the incidence, etiology and risk factors associated with ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) in children.

This prospective cohort study was conducted on patients admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of a tertiary care institute of North India, from June 2012 through March 2014, who received mechanical ventilation for more than 24 h. All enrolled children were assessed daily for development of ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) using the case definition given by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Chest radiograph and microbiologic samplings were performed in children suspected to have VAP. Risk factors associated with VAP were calculated by doing bivariate and multivariate analysis.

A total of 128 patients were screened and 86 were enrolled (median age 30 mo 95% CI 4.0–84.0; 72% boys). The most common admitting diagnosis was sepsis (16%) followed by acyanotic congenital heart disease with pneumonia (14%) and the most common indication for ventilation was respiratory failure (45.3%). The incidence of VAP according to CDC criteria was 38.4%, while the incidence of microbiologically confirmed VAP was 24.4%. The incidence of ventilator associated tracheobronchitis (VAT) was found to be 11.6%. Acinetobacter was the most frequently isolated organism (47%) followed by Pseudomonas (28%), Klebsiella (15%), E. coli (5%) and Enterobacter (5%). Risk factors for VAP on bivariate analysis were use of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) (p = 0.027, OR 5.2, 95% CI 1.1–24.3), enteral feeding (p < 0.001, OR 6.5, 95% CI 2.1–19.4) and re-intubation (p = 0.024, OR 3.3 and 95% CI 1.1–9.6). On multivariate analysis, use of PPI (p = 0.03, OR 8.47, 95% CI 1.19–60.33) and enteral feeding (p < 0.001, OR 12.2, 95% CI 2.58–57.78) were identified as independent risk factors for VAP.

Ventilator associated pneumonia is an important complication in children receiving mechanical ventilation in PICU and Gram negative bacilli (Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas) being the important causative agents. Ventilator associated tracheobronchitis is an emerging entity; recognition and treatment of same might prevent the development of VAP.