Background: No score is available to assess severity and stratify mortality risk in ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). Our objective was to develop a severity assessment tool for VAP patients.
Methods: A prospective, observational, cohort study was performed including 441 patients with VAP in three multidisciplinary ICUs. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify variables independently associated with ICU mortality. Results were converted into a four-variable score based on the PIRO (predisposition, insult, response, organ dysfunction) concept for ICU mortality risk stratification in VAP patients.
Results: Comorbidities (COPD, immunocompromise, heart failure, cirrhosis, or chronic renal failure); bacteremia; systolic BP < 90 mm Hg; and ARDS. A simple, four-variable VAP PIRO score was obtained at VAP onset. Mortality varied significantly according to VAP PIRO score (p < 0.001). On the basis of observed mortality for each VAP PIRO score, patients were stratified into three levels of risk: (1) mild, 0 to 1 points; (2) high, 2 points; (3) very high, 3 to 4 points. VAP PIRO score was associated with higher risk of death in Cox regression analysis in the high-risk group (hazard ratio, 2.14; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.19 to 3.86) and the very-high-risk group (hazard ratio, 4.63; 95% confidence interval, 2.68 to 7.99). Moreover, medical resource use after VAP diagnosis was higher in high-risk and very-high-risk levels compared to patients at mild risk, evaluated using length of ICU stay (mean +/- SD, 22.0 +/- 10.6 d vs 18.7 +/- 12.8 d, p < 0.05) and duration of mechanical ventilation (18.3 +/- 10.1 d vs 15.1 +/- 11.5 d, p < 0.05).
Conclusions: VAP PIRO score is a simple, practical clinical tool for predicting ICU mortality and health-care resources use that is likely to assist clinicians in determining VAP severity.