ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: This is a retrospective, descriptive study, evaluating the observed agreement between 1996 & 2002 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) definitions of nosocomial pneumonia (NP) for medical intensive care unit (MICU) and surgical intensive care unit (SICU) patients. METHODS: A total of 476 adult patients who were over 15 years of age and had been admitted to the MICU & SICU of a university hospital between August 1, 2005 and August 1, 2007 were enrolled. Data were collected from electronic medical records according to the 1996 & 2002 CDC definitions of NP. RESULTS: According to the 1996 CDC definitions of NP, there were a total of 116 NP cases and incidence rate was 11.6 per 1,000 patient-days; when analyzed with the 2002 CDC definitions of NP, 75 cases met the criteria and the incidence rate was 7.5 per 1,000 patient-days. Kappa value measuring agreement between the two definitions was 0.67 (95% confidence interval 0.601-0.706). When 1996 CDC definitions were compared with 2002 CDC definitions, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 93.3, 88.5, 60.3, and 98.6%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Even though the aforementioned NP criteria had been applied to the same study population, the number of patients that met the definitions changed depending on which criteria had been used. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the differences when making a comparison.