This will be a retrospective, single-center observational study of patients admitted to the UPMC Presbyterian Medical Intensive Care Unit over a 5-year period. Adult patients (i.e., >18 years of age) who are mechanically ventilated for at least 48 hours and received at least one unit of packed red blood cells will be cross-referenced with reported infection control data and relevant Central Blood Bank data (e.g., storage duration, whether leukoreduced) by a third-party to create a single data set. All identifiers will then be removed from the combined data set and the information will be made available to the investigators.
The primary outcome is RBC storage duration and association with ventilator-associated pneumonia. VAP will be defined using CDC criteria and will be based upon clinical parameters and microbiologic data. Secondary outcomes include ICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, 28-day mortality, and other hospital care associated infections (e.g., C. difficile colitis, blood stream infections). RBC storage duration (reported as continuous variable, i.e. number of days) will be compared between patients with and without VAP.