Major ArticleThe attributable cost and length of hospital stay because of nosocomial pneumonia in intensive care units in 3 hospitals in Argentina: A prospective, matched analysis
Section snippets
Setting
The study was conducted in 3 medical centers in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Each center has an infection control team composed of a medical doctor with formal education and background in internal medicine, infectious diseases, and hospital epidemiology and an infection control nurse.6
Hospital A is a public 250-bed hospital situated in the province of Buenos Aires with 1 medical/surgical ICU (10 beds) and 1 coronary ICU (10 beds). Hospital B is a private 150-bed hospital situated in the province of
Results
During the study period (July 1998 to June 2002), 7230 adult patients were admitted to the study ICUs, and 419 (5.79%) were found to have nosocomial pneumonia.
Three hundred seven patients with nosocomial pneumonia had a LOS of 7 days or more and were incorporated into the analysis. Matching for more than 7 days of ICU stay, hospital, year of admission, type of ICU, sex, age, and average severity of illness score at admission was done. After matching for the 7 described characteristics, we chose
Discussion
NP is the leading cause of death from hospital-acquired infection; the incidence in ICUs varies from 7% to 40% of patients.4 Critically ill patients often require prolonged mechanical ventilation, which is the most important risk factor for NP.1 Several recent studies have found that nosocomial infections are emerging as an important problem in many developing countries.12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 When infection, including NP, does occur, studies have repeatedly demonstrated an increased length
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