Study Highlights Impact of Nonventilator Hospital-acquired Pneumonia on Patient Safety

A new American Journal of Infection Control study found that nonventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia (NV-HAP) is an “underappreciated and serious patient safety issue.”

Among the most common hospital-acquired infections, NV-HAP leads to significant increases in cost, length of stay, and mortality.

Researchers used the 2012 U.S. National Inpatient Sample dataset to compare an NV-HAP group to four additional group cohorts: pneumonia on admission, general hospital admissions, matched on mortality and severity, and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). The main outcome was NV-HAP incidence, while the secondary outcome was to compare hospital length of stay, total hospital charges, and mortality between the NV-HAP group and the four additional group cohorts.

The overall incidence of NV-HAP was 1.6%, a rate of 3.63 per 1,000 patient days. NV-HAP was associated with increased total hospital charges, a longer hospital stay, and greater likelihood of death compared to all groups except patients with VAP.