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. 2024 Oct;50(5):2005-2015.
doi: 10.1007/s00068-024-02509-8. Epub 2024 Mar 28.

Definitions of hospital-acquired pneumonia in trauma research: a systematic review

Tim Kobes  1 , Diederik P J Smeeing  2   3 , Falco Hietbrink  4 , Kim E M Benders  4 , R Marijn Houwert  4 , Mark P C M van Baal  5
Affiliations

Definitions of hospital-acquired pneumonia in trauma research: a systematic review

Tim Kobes et al. Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg. 2024 Oct.

Abstract

Purpose: What are reported definitions of HAP in trauma patient research?

Methods: A systematic review was performed using the PubMed/MEDLINE database. We included all English, Dutch, and German original research papers in adult trauma patients reporting diagnostic criteria for hospital-acquired pneumonia diagnosis. The risk of bias was assessed using the MINORS criteria.

Results: Forty-six out of 5749 non-duplicate studies were included. Forty-seven unique criteria were reported and divided into five categories: clinical, laboratory, microbiological, radiologic, and miscellaneous. Eighteen studies used 33 unique guideline criteria; 28 studies used 36 unique non-guideline criteria.

Conclusion: Clinical criteria for diagnosing HAP-both guideline and non-guideline-are widespread with no clear consensus, leading to restrictions in adequately comparing the available literature on HAP in trauma patients. Studies should at least report how a diagnosis was made, but preferably, they would use pre-defined guideline criteria for pneumonia diagnosis in a research setting. Ideally, one internationally accepted set of criteria is used to diagnose hospital-acquired pneumonia.

Level of evidence: Level III.

Keywords: Clinical definition; Diagnosis; Diagnostic criteria; Guideline criteria; Hospital-acquired pneumonia; Trauma patient research.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The PRISMA flow diagram, illustrating the in- and exclusion process of studies on trauma patients with a reporting, clinical definition of HAP
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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