COMPARATIVE STUDY OF VENTILATOR-ASSOCIATED PNEUMONIA AND COMMUNITY-ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA IN ICU PATIENTS AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Background and Objective: Pneumonia continues to be one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality among critically ill patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). Ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) is a serious hospital acquired infection that develops in mechanically ventilated patients after 48hrs of intubation, whereas community-acquired pneumonia(CAP) is present at the time of hospital admission or develops within 48hrs of admission. The increasing emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) organisms in ICU settings has complicated management and adversely affected patient outcomes. This study aimed to compare the clinical profile, microbial etiology, antimicrobial susceptibility patterns, duration of ICU stay, and mortality between patients with VAP and CAP admitted to a tertiary care ICU.