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Outcomes of Health Care-Associated Pneumonia Empirically Treated with Guideline-Concordant Regimens Versus Community-Acquired Pneumonia Guideline-Concordant Regimens for Patients Admitted to Acute Care Wards from Home (January).
Ann Pharmacother. 2013 Jan 16;
Authors: Chen JI, Slater LN, Kurdgelashvili G, Husain KO, Gentry CA
Abstract
BACKGROUND:The introduction of the health care-associated pneumonia (HCAP) categorization expanded recommendations for broad-spectrum empiric antibiotics to pneumonia patients presenting from the community with recent health care-system exposure. However, the efficacy of such regimens in improving clinical outcomes in these patients has not been well established.OBJECTIVE:To compare the clinical outcomes of HCAP patients treated initially with HCAP guideline-concordant antibiotic regimens to those treated initially with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) guideline-concordant antibiotic regimens.METHODS:This retrospective study included HCAP patients presenting from home and admitted to general medical wards. HCAP regimen patients were treated empirically with at least 1 antipseudomonal agent. All other patients were assigned to the CAP regimen group. The primary end point was clinical cure at 30 days postdischarge. Subgroup analysis was performed in patients hospitalized 1-30 days and 31-90 days before the HCAP admission.RESULTS:Of 228 HCAP admissions, 122 patients received CAP regimens and 106 received HCAP regimens. The 2 groups were similar at baseline, including Pneumonia Severity Index scores. Attributable clinical cure occurred in 75.4% of CAP regimen patients and 69.8% of HCAP regimen patients (p = 0.34). Overall clinical cure occurred in 59.8% of CAP regimen patients and 54.7% of HCAP regimen patients (p = 0.44). The CAP regimen group used fewer days of intravenous antibiotics (4.39 vs 7.75, p < 0.0001) and had shorter lengths of stay (6.36 vs 8.58 days, p < 0.0001). For patients hospitalized 31-90 days earlier, clinical cure was higher in the CAP regimen group (attributable, 82.9% vs 60.0%, p = 0.0090; overall, 67.1% vs 47.5%, p = 0.044).CONCLUSIONS:Compared to CAP guideline-concordant regimens, treatment of HCAP with HCAP guideline-concordant regimens did not increase clinical cure rates and was associated with lower clinical cure rates in patients hospitalized 31-90 days prior to the HCAP admission. This study suggests that broad-spectrum empiric antibiotics may not be necessary in all HCAP patient groups.
PMID: 23324506 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]