Frequency of Ventilator Associated Pneumonia in Pediatric ICU of Allied Hospital, Faisalabad

Abstract

Introduction: Endotracheal intubation and ventilation is often required to manage acute respiratory failure in critically ill patients. Despite being lifesaving therapy, mechanical ventilation can frequently cause problems with significant hazards, including the nosocomial infection recognized as ventilator associated pneumonia. Objective: To determine the frequency of ventilator associated pneumonia in children > 1 month – 15 years of age. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Duration of Study: 06-11-2015 to 05-05-2016. Setting: Department of Pediatric Medicine Unit-1, Allied Hospital, Faisalabad. Sample size: The total sample size was 96 cases. Sampling Technique: Non probability purposive sampling. Methodology: Total of 96 patients, having age range from >1 month to 15 years, on mechanical ventilation due to any reason for more than 48 hours were enrolled in study. Patients already having pneumonia were excluded from the study. All patients underwent detailed medical history and physical examination followed by investigations i.e. complete blood count, C reactive protein and X-ray chest. The data was analyzed through SPSS-20, mean and standard deviation was calculated for age of the children. Frequency and percentage was calculated for qualitative variable like gender and presence/absence of VAP. Results: In this study, out of 96 children, minimum age was 6 months and maximum age was 156 months and Mean + SD was calculated as 38.07±37.368 months, 51 (53.1%) were male and 45 (46.9%) were females, ventilator associated pneumonia was recorded in 19 (19.8%) while 77(80.2%) had no findings of the ventilator associated pneumonia. Conclusion: The frequency of ventilator associated pneumonia was 19.8% in this study, indicating the importance of keeping index of suspicion high for the development of ventilator associated pneumonia in patients being mechanically ventilated.