Improvements in Pulmonary and General Critical Care Reduces Mortality following Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia

Background Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is the most common hospital-acquired infection in the intensive care unit with substantial subsequent mortality. The mortality following VAP declined in the 1980s and 1990s. Experts suggest little progress has been made in outcomes from VAP since several novel interventions have failed. We nonetheless hypothesized that mortality following VAP has continued to decrease due to advances in pulmonary critical care.