%0 Journal Article
%T Definitions of hospital-acquired pneumonia in trauma research: a systematic review.
%A Kobes T
%A Smeeing DPJ
%A Hietbrink F
%A Benders KEM
%A Houwert RM
%A van Baal MPCM
%J Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg
%V 0
%N 0
%D 2024 Mar 28
%M 38546856
%F 2.374
%R 10.1007/s00068-024-02509-8
%X OBJECTIVE: 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.
CONCLUSIONS: 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.
METHODS: Level III.