Resumo

GOMEZ VIERA, Nelson  e  RAFFI MARTICORENA, Yuranys. Clinical characterization of patients with nosocomial pneumonia in the acute care units. Rev cubana med [online]. 2007, vol.46, n.4. ISSN 0034-7523.

A descriptive and retrospective study was conducted in “Hermanos Ameijeiras” Clinical and Surgical Hospital from April 1 to December 31, 2006, to make a clinical characterization of the patients that acquired nosocomial pneumonia in the acute care units. A model to collect data was designed. The data were obtained from the medical histories and the necropsy protocols. The calculation of percentages and Pearson's chi square test were used to analyze data. 727 admissions were registered in that period, and 107 of them (14.7 %) acquired nosocomial pneumonia. The group over 60 (69.1 %) was the most affected. The highest percentage of sick individuals were males (53.3 %), whereas 62.8 % acquired pneumonia in the first 72 hours of stay at the unit. The following personal pathological histories were the most frequent: arterial hypertension (53.2 %), diabetes mellitus (25.2 %) and ischemic heart disease (19.6 %). There was a statistically significant association between the use of mechanical ventilation and the patients' death (P 0.001). No marked statistically association was found between the consciousness disorders and the stay length with the state on discharge (p 0.77 and p 0.28, respectively). Staphylococcus aureus (62.5 %), acinetobacter (40.9 %) and Klebsiella neumoniae (38.6 %) were the most frequently isolated germs. It was concluded that nosocomial pneumonia was the direct cause of death in 60.8 % of the patients.

Palavras-chave : Nosocomial pneumonia; mechanical ventilation; germs; death.