The study team used pediatric patients’ electronic health records to identify patients eligible for the study.
A paper recently published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal sheds light on risk factors that make children more likely to contract hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (HABP/VABP).
The study that identified the risk factors was conducted by the Pediatric Trials Network (PTN), for which the DCRI serves as a coordinating center, and the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI), which is hosted at the DCRI. CTTI also conducted the study in adult cohorts in the U. S. and Europe.
HABP/VABP can often be deadly for children, and these illnesses are often caused by drug resistant bacteria that require novel antibiotics. However, HABP/VABP can be difficult to diagnose, which leads to inefficient clinical trial enrollment and hinders new drug development. Identification of risk factors could aid in earlier and more accurate diagnosis of HABP/VABP and improve clinical trials in this area.
The study used pediatric patients’ electronic health records to identify which patients received qualifying respiratory support or antibiotics for either a lower respiratory infection or undifferentiated sepsis. The study then followed the selected patients until they were either diagnosed with HABP/VABP or discharged from the intensive care unit.
“This study, which identifies factors that could place patients at a higher risk of developing hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia, will be important both for diagnosis and prevention purposes,” said the DCRI’s Danny Benjamin, MD, PhD, principal investigator and chair of the PTN.
Of 862 newborns, infants, and children younger than 18 who were evaluated, 10 percent of patients receiving respiratory support and 12 percent overall developed HABP/VABP. While risk factors varied by age group, patients showed increased odds of developing HABP/VABP if they:
- Were older
- Were shorter
- Spent a longer time in the intensive care unit
- Were at risk of aspiration
- Had received a blood product transfusion in the prior seven days
- Had frequent suctioning
“This paper can potentially help improve diagnosis and identification of eligible pediatric participants for antibacterial pneumonia trials,” added Pamela Tenaerts, MD, MBA, executive director of CTTI. “Additional results from CTTI’s HABP/VABP studies project, including the results of this study’s U.S. and European adult cohorts, will be available in the coming months.”