Trauma is associated with a better prognosis in intensive care patients with Acinetobacter infections

Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as a common cause of infection in war-related trauma, civilian trauma and other surgical emergencies. The aim of this study was to determine prognostic factors especially trauma, in critically ill surgical patients with Acinetobacter spp. infection in a reference emergency ICU.

The initial analysis revealed a majority of young (43.6 years ± 17.1) men (92 %), trauma victims (78 %) and an in-hospital mortality of 30 %. Patients who had not suffered trauma presented with other surgical conditions and were on average older than trauma patients (57 ± 12 versus 40 ± 16 years). The overall APACHE II score average was 15.3. The ventilator-associated pneumonia was the main Acinetobacter infection diagnosed. In bivariate analysis lower Glasgow coma scale (p = 0.01) was associated with increased chance of death and being victim of trauma was a protecting factor (OR: 0.16; 95 % CI: 0.03–0.89). Receiving adequate treatment made no difference to outcome (OR: 0.55; 95 % CI: 0.05–3.15). Multivariate analysis showed that only the presence of trauma was independently associated with prognosis and was a protecting factor.