A 7-year study of severe hospital-acquired pneumonia requiring ICU admission.

Objective: To examine the characteristics, prognostic factors, and outcome of patients with severe hospital-acquired pneumonia admitted to the ICU.

Design And Setting: Prospective observational clinical study in two medical-surgical ICUs with 16 and 20 beds

Patients And Participants: During a 7-year period all hospitalized patients requiring admission to either ICU for hospital-acquired pneumonia were followed up.

Measurements And Results: We diagnosed 96 episodes of severe hospital-acquired pneumonia, and in 67 cases a causal diagnosis was made.