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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Community acquired pneumonia in the intensive care unit
— epidemiological and prognosis data in older people | | Author(s) | Olivier Leroy, Christophe Bosquet, Christian Vandenbussche |
| Journal title | Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol 47, no 5, May 1999 |
| Pages | pp 539-546 |
| Keywords | Pneumonia ; Hospital services ; France. |
| Annotation | The incidence and severity of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) are increased in older people. The authors conducted a retrospective (1987-1992) and prospective (1993-95) study of 500 patients exhibiting severe CAP admitted to six intensive care units (ICUs) in northern France. 278 (55%) were aged 65+. Comparison of epidemiological data between older and younger patients revealed a higher prevalence of women (38% vs 29%), more severe underlying comorbidities (anticipated death within 5 years: 59% vs 26%), and more frequent respiratory insufficiency (48% vs 33%) in older patients. In this study group, 224 organisms were isolated from 172 patients; those identified most frequently were Gram-negative bacilli (34%), S pneumoniae (32%) and Staphylococcus sp. (19%). Crude and attributable mortality rates were significantly higher in the older patients. Prognosis analysis identified four independent predictors of mortality in older patients: initial septic shock, sepsis-related complications, hospital-acquired lower respiratory tract super-infections, and non-specific pneumonia-related complications. The inappropriateness of withholding intensive care for reasons of age alone is emphasised. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-990825303 A |
| Classmark | CNP: LD: 765 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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