Pneumonia associated with mechanical ventilation in an intensive care unit of a general hospital

Background: ventilator-associated pneumonia is a frequent cause of mortality, it prolongs hospital stay and increases costs for patient management.Objective: to describe clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with pneumonia associated with artificial mechanical ventilation, at the intensive care unit (ICU 3) of the "Abel Santamaría Cuadrado" General Teaching Hospital, Pinar del Río, in the years 2018 and 2019.Methods: an observational, descriptive and cross-sectional research was carried out with patients treated at the unit, institution, period of time and with the diagnosis declared in the objective. The study population consisted of 185 patients. The following variables were assessed: associated risk factors, conditions that led to the start of ventilation, ventilation time, hospital stay, complications, status at discharge, germs and use of antimicrobials.Results: the most frequent associated risk factor was gastric protection, in all of them; tracheostomy (72,9 %) and age over 65 years (63,5 %) were important in those who remained on mechanical ventilation for eight days and more. In 69,7 %, mechanical ventilation was started for clinical reasons. Among the most frequent complications were septic shock (53,5 %) and anemia (51,3 %), with a higher incidence in the deceased (80 and 59,1 %, respectively). In the etiological diagnosis, Enterobacteria predominated (70,3 %). Cephalosporins were the most widely used type of drug (94,6 %).Conclusions: clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia included in the study were described.