Treatment and outcomes among patients ≥85 years hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia

Abstract

Our objective was to describe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) among patients ≥85 years and compare them to patients aged 65-74. This was a retrospective cohort study. The study setting included 638 hospitals in the USA participating in the Premier database from 2010 to 2015. The study participants were 488,382 adults aged ≥65 years hospitalized with CAP. Patients ≥85 years were more likely to be white (79.8% vs 76.2%), female (58.1% vs 48.3%), and admitted with aspiration pneumonia (17.1% vs 7.0%) as compared with those aged 65-75 years. They had higher rates of dementia (30.4% vs 7.8%), but lower rates of diabetes (11.2% vs 17.6%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (25.5% vs 54.7%). While Staphylococcus aureus (33.4%) was the most common pathogen across all age groups, patients aged ≥85 were more likely to have Escherichia coli pneumonia (16.1% vs 10.7%) compared with those aged 65-74. In adjusted models, patients aged ≥85 had greater in-hospital mortality (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.18), but were less likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.53 to 0.55) and receive mechanical ventilation (OR 0.47, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.48). They also had lower rates of acute kidney injury (OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.91 to 1.00) and Clostridium difficile infection (OR 0.91, 95% CI 0.85 to 0.99), shorter lengths of stay (mean multiplier 0.93, 95% CI 0.92 to 0.93) and lower cost (mean multiplier 0.81, 95% CI 0.80 to 0.81), and were more likely to be discharged to a skilled nursing facility (OR 2.19, 95% CI 2.15 to 2.24) or hospice (OR 2.19, 95% CI 2.11 to 2.27). In conclusion, patients aged ≥85 have different comorbidities and etiologies of CAP, receive less intense treatment, and have greater mortality than patients between 65 and 75 years.

Keywords: lung diseases; pneumonia; respiratory system; respiratory tract diseases.

Figure 1

Adjusted outcomes by age group are presented. Patients who had AKI and Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) on admission are not included in AKI and CDI outcomes, respectively. Patients who were discharged in 2015 are excluded from the readmission outcome given limitations on data subsequently. For discharge to skilled nursing facility versus home/home health and hospice versus home/home health, only patients with those discharge dispositions are included. AKI, acute kidney injury; ICU, intensive care unit; IMV, invasive mechanical ventilation.