Development of a prognostic scoring system in patients with pneumonia requiring ventilator care for more than 4 days: a single-center observational study

Background: The aim of the present study was to develop a prognostic model using demographic characteristics, comorbidities, and clinical variables measured on day 4 of mechanical ventilation (MV) for patients with prolonged acute mechanical ventilation (PAMV; MV for >96 hours). Methods: Data from 437 patients (70.9% male; median age, 68 years) were obtained over a period of 9 years. All patients were diagnosed with pneumonia. Binary logistic regression identified factors predicting mortality at 90 days after the start of MV. A PAMV prognosis score was calculating β-coefficient values and assigning points to variables. Results: The overall 90-day mortality rate was 47.1%. Five factors (age ≥65 years, body mass index <18.5 kg/m2 , hemato-oncologic diseases as comorbidities, requirement for vasopressors on day 4 of MV, and requirement for neuromuscular blocking agents on day 4 of MV) were identified as prognostic indicators. Each factor was valued as +1 point and used to develop a PAMV prognosis score. This score showed acceptable discrimination (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.695 for mortality, 95% confidence interval 0.650–0.738, P<0.001), and calibration (Hosmer–Lemeshow chi-square=6.331, with df 7 and P=0.502). The cutoff value for predicting mortality based on the maximum Youden index was ≤2 (sensitivity, 87.5%; specificity, 41.3%). For patients with PAMV scores ≤1, 2, 3, and ≥4, the 90-day mortality rates were 29.2%, 45.7%, 67.9%, and 90.9%, respectively (P<0.001). Conclusions: Our study developed a PAMV prognosis score for predicting 90-day mortality. Further research is needed to validate the utility of this score.