Immediate vs. culture-initiated antibiotic therapy in suspected non-severe ventilator-associated pneumonia: a before-after study (DELAVAP).

"Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participateThe study complied with the current version of the Declaration of Helsinki and good clinical practice guidelines. The protocol was approved by appropriate ethics committee (Ethics committee of the French Intensive Care Society, SRLF) on December 24, 2021 (reference CE SRLF 21–110). Consent for publicationNot applicable. Competing interestsNone of the authors has any conflicts of interest to declare. Competing interests None of the authors has any conflicts of interest to declare."

"Funding None."

"The study was approved by the ethics committee of the French Intensive Care Society (Société de Réanimation de Langue Française) on December 24, 2021 (CE SRLF 21-110). The need for informed consent was waived because both strategies were part of standard ICU practice, in the absence of published data supporting one over the other, and because both were implemented according to protocols routinely applied in the study ICU during two different time periods. The study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05205525)."