A Study of Profile of Ventilator-associated Pneumonia in Children in Punjab

Setting: Level III PICU of a tertiary care center. Design: Prospective cohort study. Methods: Children in the age group of 1 month to 15 years, admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit requiring ventilatory support (V.I.P.BIRD infant-Pediatric ventilator) for at least 48 h. Clinical criteria used to define VAPs were the same as used by and Elward et al. and Salata et al. Results: Forty patients met the inclusion criteria and 8 (20%) had VAP. The risk factor significantly related with development of VAP was the use of H-2 blockers (Ranitidine) for > 2 days. All other related factors were not significantly related to occurrence of VAP. Conclusion: Use of H-2 blockers (Ranitidne) is associated with higher incidence of VAP in children.