[What is the cost of inappropriate admission of pneumonia patients?]

Community-acquired pneumonia

Community-acquired pneumonia causes great mortality and morbidity and high costs worldwide. Empirical selection of antibiotic treatment is the cornerstone of management of patients with pneumonia. To reduce the misuse of antibiotics, antibiotic resistance, and side-effects, an empirical, effective, and individualised antibiotic treatment is needed. Follow-up after the start of antibiotic treatment is also important, and management should include early shifts to oral antibiotics, stewardship according to the microbiological results, and short-duration antibiotic treatment that accounts for the clinical stability criteria. New approaches for fast clinical (lung ultrasound) and microbiological (molecular biology) diagnoses are promising. Community-acquired pneumonia is associated with early and late mortality and increased rates of cardiovascular events. Studies are needed that focus on the long-term management of pneumonia.

Improved management of community-acquired pneumonia in the emergency department

OBJECTIVES

To determine the impact of implementing clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in the emergency department (ED) by analyzing case management decisions (admission or discharge, appropriateness and timeliness of antibiotic therapy, complementary tests) and the consequent results (clinical stabilization time, length of hospital stay, re-admission to ED and mortality).

METHODS

A prospective, observational, descriptive, comparative study carried out from 1st January 2008 to 1st August 2009 in two phases: before and after the implementation of the "Management of CAP in ED" SEMES-SEPAR (Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine - Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery) clinical practice guidelines from 2008. Two hundred adult patients treated in the ED with a diagnosis of CAP were included in the study, both in the pre-intervention and post-intervention groups.

RESULTS

The application of the guidelines increased the administration of early and appropriate antibiotic therapy (P<.001) and shortened both the total antibiotic therapy (P<.001) and the intravenous antibiotic therapy (P=.042) times. Time to clinical stabilization (P=.027), length of hospital stay (1.14 days, P=.01), intra-hospital mortality (P=.004) and total 30-day mortality (P=.044) were all reduced. Assessment with the Pneumonia Severity Index (PSI) and biomarkers aided in appropriate decision-making concerning admission/discharge (P<.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The implementation of the SEMES-SEPAR 2008 guidelines, along with the use of PSI and biomarkers, significantly improved the entire treatment process of CAP. This benefitted both patients and the system by reducing mortality and improving the results of other patient management factors.

Retrospective epidemiological study for the characterization of community- acquired pneumonia and pneumococcal pneumonia in adults in a well-defined area of Badalona (Barcelona, Spain)

Background

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) has large impact on direct healthcare costs, especially those derived from hospitalization. This study determines impact, clinical characteristics, outcome and economic consequences of CAP in the adult (≥18 years) population attended in 6 primary-care centers and 2 hospitals in Badalona (Spain) over a two-year period.

Methods

Medical records were identified by codes from the International Classification of Diseases in databases (January 1^st 2008-December 31^st 2009).

Results

A total of 581 patients with CAP (55.6% males, mean age 57.5 years) were identified. Prevalence: 0.64% (95% CI: 0.5%-0.7%); annual incidence: 3.0 cases/1,000 inhabitants (95% CI: 0.2-0.5). Up to 241 (41.5%) required hospitalization. Hospital admission was associated (p<0.002) with liver disease (OR=5.9), stroke (OR=3.6), dementia (OR=3.5), COPD (OR=2.9), diabetes mellitus (OR=1.9) and age (OR=1.1 per year). Length of stay (4.4±0.3 days) was associated with PSI score (β=0.195), in turn associated with age (r=0.827) and Charlson index (r=0.497). Microbiological tests were performed in all inpatients but only in 35% outpatients. Among patients with microbiological tests, results were positive in 51.7%, and among them, S pneumoniae was identified in 57.5% cases. Time to recovery was 29.9±17.2 days. Up to 7.5% inpatients presented complications, 0.8% required ICU admission and 19.1% readmission. Inhospital mortality rate was 2.5%. Adjusted mean total cost was €2,332.4/inpatient and €698.6/outpatient (p<0.001). Patients with pneumococcal CAP (n=107) showed higher comorbidity and hospitalization (76.6%), higher PSI score, larger time to recovery and higher overall costs among inpatients.

Conclusions

Strategies preventing CAP, thus reducing hospital admissions could likely produce substantial costs savings in addition to the reduction of CAP burden.

When, where and how should a patient with community acquired pneumonia be admitted?

Community-acquired pneumonia is the leading cause of death (10-14%) from infectious disease and the source of many sepsis and septic shock cases attended in the emergency departments. There is great variability in the admission rates (22-61%), and 10-20% of such admissions have to be done in the intensive care unit. The correct determination of need for admission (when), admission site (where) and burden of delivered care (how) will determine the patient's prognosis, request for basic and microbiological studies, antibiotic regimen (via and duration), clinical follow-up intensity and, consequently, the use of socio-health resources (costs). This article aims to orient decision-making, taking into account the new trends in prognostic evaluation tendencies and the current alternatives to the classic hospital admission.

[Pneumonia awareness year, 2004: scientific impact through publications in Archivos de Bronconeumología]

Pneumonia is a common and potentially serious infectious disease. Morbidity and mortality rates continue to be high in spite of major advances and steady progress in diagnosis and treatment. The economic impact of the disease is also great. It is therefore necessary to enlist the public, primary care and emergency physicians, and public policy administrators to join forces to treat and prevent pneumonia for the common good. The annual incidence of pneumonia in the population over the age of 14 years is 1.6 to 2.6 episodes/1000 inhabitants. The mortality rate is 14.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, and the associated costs are 115 million euros annually. The RESPIRA Foundation and the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) declared 2004 to be pneumonia awareness year with the aim of coordinating efforts to raise awareness, distribute information, and foster debate.