Microorganisms Isolated from Respiratory Intensive Care Unit and the Change of Antibiotic Resistance Status By Years And Its Effect On Mortality

BACKGROUND: Intensive care units (ICU) are multidisciplinary departments where patients with life-threatening diseases, major surgical interventions, respiratory failure, coma condition, hemodynamic insufficiency, and ≥1 organ failure are admitted for relevant diagnoses and treatment. AIM: The present study sought to investigate pathogens causing infections in patients admitted to our respiratory ICU and their antibiotic resistance patterns. MATERİALS and METHOD: The antibiogram results and clinical data of all patient samples submitted between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2010, were retrospectively reviewed. RESULT: In total, 248 patients with 561 culture results were included in the study. Microbial growth was detected in the following samples: blood, 336 (59.9%); deep tracheal aspirate, 104 (18.6%); urine, 89 (15.9%); wound drain, 12 (2.1%); central venous catheter liquid, 7 (1.3%); phlegm, 10 (1.8%); Foley tip liquid, 1 (0.2%); and pleural effusion, and 1 (0.2%). Rapid growth was most frequently noted in the cultures of coagulase-negative staphylococci (25.3%), Acinetobacter spp. (23.1%), and Escherichia coli (12.6%). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Descriptive statistics for continuous variables were expressed as means and standard deviations. The intermittent variables were converted into cross-tables and analyzed using Fisher’s exact and Pearson’s chi-square tests. The normal distribution of the study data was assessed using Kolmogorov–Smirnov test. The mean values of the variables were analyzed using Student’s t-test. Bidirectional hypotheses were used, and a p-value of