Are We Close to Zeroing the Ventilator-associated Pneumonia Rate?

Introduction: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is one of the major hospital-acquired infections in the intensive care unit (ICU). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made changes in the definitions of VAP. In this study, we aimed to prospectively evaluate patients in the tertiary-level chest diseases ICU between December 2016 and May 2017 in terms of ventilator-related events using the new surveillance criteria for patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation. Materials and Methods: Patients in the chest diseases ICU were prospectively evaluated in terms of VAP development, and the incidence was calculated according to the old and new CDC criteria. Results: A total of 82 patients (31 women, 51 men) were followed up in the chest diseases ICU. Twenty-four patients who met the new surveillance criteria (survived >4 days) with 1632 patient-days and 601 ventilator days were included in the study. The incidences of VAP according to the old and new criteria were 31.6 and 1.6 per 1000 ventilator days, respectively. Conclusion: Our data suggest that new CDC definitions underdiagnose pneumonia in the daily practice. We may conclude that it does not seem rational to switch to the newer VAP definitions in the daily practice from the elder CDC definitions.