Postoperative pneumonia following cardiac surgery in non-ventilated patients versus mechanically ventilated patients: is there any difference?

Table 5 Clinical characteristics of postoperative pneumonia at the time of diagnosis in the 257 patients

Variable	Patients with VAP (n = 137)	Patients with non-VAP (n = 120)	*P-value*
CPIS score, mean ± SD	7.1 ± 1.2	6.9 ± 1.3	0.16
SOFA score, mean ± SD	9.1 ± 2.8	8.0 ± 3.1	0.004
Time to onset of pneumonia, days, mean ± SD	4 ± 2	4 ± 2	0.55
Peak value of cTnI, ng/mL, mean ± SD	18.7 ± 36.3	7.9 ± 11.5	0.002
Inotropic support with dobutamine, n (%)	103 (75.2)	69 (57.5)	0.003
Inotropic support with norepinephrine, n (%)	95 (69.3)	80 (66.7)	0.65
Inhaled nitrous oxide, n (%)	34 (24.8)	16 (13.3)	0.02
Number of units of PRBC, mean ± SD	2.2 ± 3.0	1.3 ± 1.9	0.005

CPIS, clinical pulmonary infection score; cTnI, cardiac troponin I; PRBC, packed red blood cells; SOFA, sequential organ failure assessment; VAP, ventilator-associated pneumonia.

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