Validation of the 2005 American Thoracic Society/Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines for ventilator-associated pneumonia: a Japanese multicenter observational study

To select the empirical antimicrobial treatment for patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), the 2005 American Thoracic Society/Infectious Disease of America (ATS/IDSA) guidelines classify patients according to time of onset and risk factors for potential multidrug-resistant pathogens (MDRPs). This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of microbial prediction and validate the adequacy of these guidelines for antibiotic strategy in VAP patients.