Health care–associated infections are a serious public health problem, increasing costs and morbidity and mortality. Nosocomial pneumonia (NP) is among the most common, especially in older adults. Identifying vulnerability factors is essential to reduce its incidence and severity, given the scarcity of studies comparing clinical variables. This study aims to evaluate the influence of length of stay, age, and sex on the clinical outcome of patients with NP in a hospital in Minas Gerais. A retrospective cross-sectional study analyzing medical records of patients >18 years hospitalized in 2023 with a diagnosis of NP confirmed by the Hospital Infection Control Service. Community-acquired pneumonias, ventilator-associated pneumonias, or pneumonias acquired in other services were excluded. Cases were reviewed by an infectious disease specialist. Data collection was authorized by the Ethics Committee and the technical board, with waiver of informed consent. Only patients diagnosed after 72 hours of hospitalization were included, according to ANVISA’s temporal criterion. Data were anonymized, organized in spreadsheets, and analyzed in SPSS 25.0 using chi-square and Spearman correlation tests (5% significance level). Sixty-five patients were analyzed: 53.8% male and 46.2% female. Mean age was 71.6 years (SD = 14.27), with predominance between 60–79 years (41.5%) and over 80 (40%). Hospitalizations >30 days concentrated more deaths (38.1%) and discharges (50%), without statistical significance (χ² = 4.325; p = 0.364). Patients aged 37–59 had more discharges (33.3%) and those >80 had more deaths (40.9%), also without significance (χ² = 4.752; p = 0.314). Men predominated among discharges (66.7%) and transfers (66.7%), while women were the majority among deaths (52.3%), with no significant association (χ² = 2.052; p = 0.358). A literature search for comparative studies in the Virtual Health Library (BVS) using the descriptors “Age Groups,” “Length of Stay,” “Sex,” and “Outcome Expectations,” combined with Boolean operators “AND,” and “OR” for “Measures of Association, Exposure, Risk or Outcome,” returned only 7 results in the last 5 years. This reinforces the regional relevance of this study. Although trends suggest higher mortality among older adults, prolonged hospitalizations, and female patients, no statistically significant associations were identified between the analyzed variables and clinical outcomes in patients with nosocomial pneumonia.
Fernandes et al. (Sun,) studied this question.