Clinical outcomes and risk factors for mortality from ventilator-associated events: A registry-based cohort study among 30,830 intensive care unit patients.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the clinical impact of ventilator-associated events (VAEs) on adverse prognoses and risk factors for mortality among intensive care unit (ICU) patients receiving invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) based on an ICU healthcare-associated infection (ICU-HAI) registry. DESIGN A cohort study was conducted based on an ICU-HAI registry including 30,830 patients between 2015 and 2018. SETTING The study was conducted using data from 5 adult ICUs of a referral hospital. PATIENTS Adult patients in the ICU-HAI registry who received ≥4 consecutive IMV days. METHODS Clinical outcomes and mortality risk factors for VAEs were analyzed using propensity score matching (PSM), multivariate regression models, and sensitivity analyses. RESULTS Of 6,426 included patients, 1,803 developed 1,899 VAEs. After PSM, patients with VAEs did have prolonged length of stay in the ICU and in the hospital, increased hospitalization costs, longer days on mechanical ventilation, higher proportion of ≥9 days on mechanical ventilation, higher rate of failure in extubating mechanical ventilation, and excess all-cause mortality in the ICU. Older age (adjusted OR [aOR], 1.02), higher APACHE II score on ICU admission (aOR, 1.06), pneumonia (aOR, 1.49), blood transfusion (aOR 1.43), immunosuppressive drugs (aOR, 1.69), central-line catheter (aOR, 2.06), and ≥2 VAEs in the ICU (aOR, 1.99) were associated with higher risks for all-cause mortality in an ICU. CONCLUSIONS Patients with VAEs indeed had poorer clinical outcomes. Older age, higher APACHE II score on ICU admission, pneumonia, blood transfusion, immunosuppressive drugs, central-line catheter, and ≥2 VAEs in the ICU were risk factors for all-cause mortality of VAE patients in the ICU.