Abstract
The most recent European guidelines and task force reports on hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) were published almost 10 years ago. Since then, further randomised clinical trials of HAP and VAP have been conducted and new information has become available. Studies of epidemiology, diagnosis, empiric treatment, response to treatment, new antibiotics or new forms of antibiotic administration and disease prevention have changed old paradigms. In addition, important differences between approaches in Europe and the USA have become apparent.
The European Respiratory Society launched a project to develop new international guidelines for HAP and VAP. Other European societies, including the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, were invited to participate and appointed their representatives. The Latin American Thoracic Association was also invited.
A total of 15 experts and two methodologists made up the panel. Three experts from the USA were also invited (Michael S. Niederman, Marin Kollef and Richard Wunderink).
Applying the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) methodology, the panel selected seven PICO (population–intervention–comparison–outcome) questions that generated a series of recommendations for HAP/VAP diagnosis, treatment and prevention.
Abstract
ERS/ESICM/ESCMID/ALAT evidence-based recommendations for HAP/VAP diagnosis, treatment and prevention http://ow.ly/dGhv30dAVoa
Footnotes
This article has supplementary material available from erj.ersjournals.com
This document was endorsed by the ERS Executive Committee, ESCMID and ALAT in July 2017, and by ESICM in August 2017.
The guidelines published by the European Respiratory Society (ERS) incorporate data obtained from a comprehensive and systematic literature review of the most recent studies available at the time. Health professionals are encouraged to take the guidelines into account in their clinical practice. However, the recommendations issued by this guideline may not be appropriate for use in all situations. It is the individual responsibility of health professionals to consult other sources of relevant information, to make appropriate and accurate decisions in consideration of each patient's health condition and in consultation with that patient and the patient's caregiver where appropriate and/or necessary, and to verify rules and regulations applicable to drugs and devices at the time of prescription.
Conflict of interest: D. Rigau acts as a methodologist for the European Respiratory Society. All other disclosures can be found alongside this article at erj.ersjournals.com
- Received March 20, 2017.
- Accepted June 13, 2017.
- Copyright ©ERS 2017
