Suspected ventilator-associated respiratory infection in severely ill patients: a prospective observational study

Abstract

Ventilator-associated respiratory infection (VARI) is an important cause of morbidity in critically-ill patients. Clinical trials performed in heterogeneous populations have suggested there are limited benefits from invasive diagnostic testing to identify patients at risk or to target antimicrobial therapy. However, multiple patient subgroups (for example, immunocompromised, antibiotic-treated) have traditionally been excluded from randomization. We hypothesized that a prospective surveillance study would better identify patients with suspected VARI (sVARI) at high risk for adverse clinical outcomes, and who might be specifically targeted in future trials.