Timing of Intubation and Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Following Injury

Hypothesis In an emergency medical system with established rapid-sequence intubation protocols, prehospital (PH) intubation of patients with trauma is not associated with a higher rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) than emergency department (ED) intubation. Design Retrospective observational cohort. Setting Level I trauma center. Patients Adult patients with trauma intubated in a PH or an ED setting from July 1, 2007, through July 31, 2008. Main Outcome Measures Diagnosis of VAP by means of bronchoscopic alveolar lavage or clinical assessment when bronchoscopic alveolar lavage was impossible. Secondary outcomes included time to VAP, length of hospitalization, and in-hospital mortality. Results Of 572 patients, 412 (72.0%) underwent PH intubation. The ED group was older than the PH group (mean ages, 46.4 vs 39.1 years; P P  = .002). The mean (SD) lowest recorded ED systolic blood pressure was lower in the ED group (102.8 [1.9] vs 111.4 [1.2] mm Hg; P P  = .94). There was no difference in the mean rate of VAP (30 [18.8%] vs 71 [17.2%]; P  = .66) or mean time to diagnosis (8.1 [1.2] vs 7.8 [1.0] days; P  = .89). Logistic regression analysis identified history of drug abuse, lowest recorded ED systolic blood pressure, and injury severity score as 3 independent factors predictive of VAP. Conclusions Prehospital intubation of patients with trauma is not associated with higher risk of VAP. Further investigation of intubation factors and the incidence and timing of aspiration is required to identify potentially modifiable factors to prevent VAP.