ืnosocomial pneumonia (NP) is the second most
frequent cause of hospital-acquired infection in
the United States.’ Its incidence ranges from four to 50
cases per 1,000 admissions”2 in community hospitals
and general medical wards of teaching hospitals, and
up to 120 to 220 cases per 1,000 admissions3’4 in some
intensive care units (ICU) or among patients requiring
mechanical ventilation. Together with primary bacteremias,
NP is the leading cause of mortality directly
related to nosocomial infection.3 However, the factors
influencing its prognosis have never been studied so far
in an unselected sample of patients using a multivariate
statistical approach.