Clinical Epidemiology of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia in Open Heart Surgery Patients Admitted to Intensive Care Units in Sari Fatemeh Zahra Hospital, 2017-2019

Background and purpose: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is one of the major factors of mortality and morbidity in Intensive care units (ICUS), especially in open-heart surgery patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate VAP in open-heart surgery patients admitted to the ICU in Sari Fatemeh Zahra Hospital, 2017-2019. Materials and methods: In this retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study, demographic, clinical, laboratory, and therapeutic information of patients with VAP were examined. Data were analyzed using SPSS V25. Results: A total of 52 patients with VAP were elevated after open heart surgery. The mean age of patients was 64.41±10.85 years and 55.8% were men. Half of the patients (51.9%) underwent intubation for less than five days and the mean duration of occurrence of VAP after initiation of ventilation was about six hours. The most common microorganisms causing pneumonia were Acinetobacter baumannii (23.63%) and Citrobacter freundii (16.36%). In general, the highest resistance of isolated microorganisms was toward third-generation cephalosporins and their highest sensitivity was to aminoglycosides. Conclusion: Control and prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia is of particular importance, especially in patients after open-heart surgery admitted to intensive care units.