From starting mechanical ventilation to ventilator-associated pneumonia, choosing the right moment to start antibiotic treatment

Table 2 Patient characteristics in pre-VAP period

	All patients (n 71)	Nongradual VAP (n 28)	Gradual VAP (n 43)	p Value
Airway bacterial colonization	62 (87 %)	19 (68 %)	43 (100 %)	<0.001
SOFA	7.5 [5–10.5]	8 [0–10]	7 [5.5–10.5]	0.922
mCPIS	5 [4–6]	4 [1.5–5]	5 [5–7]	0.018
PaO₂/FiO₂	200 [148–274]	200 [140.5–267]	200 [164–280]	0.596
Temperature, °C	37 [36.2–38]	36.4 [36–37.9]	37.2 [36.6–38]	0.05
Leukocytes, cells/mm³	12,400 [7900–16,800]	11,550 [8200–17,500]	12,700 [7200–16,550]	0.984
CRP, mg/L	134 [52–208]	76 [13.5–164]	159 [80–210]	0.051
PCT, ng/ml	0.83 [0.37–3.96]	0.78 [0.27–7.6]	0.9 [0.43–2.16]	0.953

SOFA sepsis organ failure score, mCPIS modified Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score, CRP C-reactive protein, PCT procalcitonin, PaO ₂ /FiO ₂ ratio of partial pressure of arterial oxygen to fraction of inspired oxygen, VAP ventilator-associated pneumonia
Results are expressed as median [interquartile range] for continuous variables and number (%) for categorical variables

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