Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

HSR Citation Abstract

Search | Search by Center | Search by Source | Keywords in Title

Comparison of two guideline-concordant antimicrobial combinations in elderly patients hospitalized with severe community-acquired pneumonia.

Wilson BZ, Anzueto A, Restrepo MI, Pugh MJ, Mortensen EM. Comparison of two guideline-concordant antimicrobial combinations in elderly patients hospitalized with severe community-acquired pneumonia. Critical care medicine. 2012 Aug 1; 40(8):2310-4.

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.
   Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions



Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: Two of the guideline-concordant therapies for severe community-acquired pneumonia are either a beta-lactam and fluoroquinolone or beta-lactam and macrolide. However it is unclear if there is a benefit for one vs. the other for elderly patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia. DESIGN: A retrospective population-based cohort study of patients with community-acquired pneumonia. SETTING: Patients admitted to an intensive care unit of any Department of Veterans Affairs hospital during 5-yr period. PATIENTS: We included only those patients > 65 yrs of age admitted to the intensive care unit with community-acquired pneumonia who received either beta-lactam+fluoroquinolone or beta-lactam+macrolide antibiotic therapy for pneumonia. INTERVENTION: Not applicable. MEASUREMENTS: We used multilevel regression models to examine the effect of beta-lactam+fluoroquinolone vs. beta-lactam+macrolide on each of the outcomes after adjusting for potential confounders using propensity scores. MAIN RESULTS: The cohort consisted of 1,989 patients: 98.5% male and a mean age of 74 yrs. For treatment, 44% of subjects received beta-lactam+fluoroquinolone and 56% received beta-lactam+macrolide. Unadjusted 30-day mortality was 27% for beta-lactam+fluoroquinolone and 24% for beta-lactam+macrolide (p = .11). In the multilevel models, the use of beta-lactam+fluoroquinolone was not significantly associated with 30-day mortality (odds ratio 1.05, 95% confidence interval 0.85-1.30). However, the use of beta-lactam+fluoroquinolone was significantly associated with increased mean length of stay (incidence rate ratio 1.30, 95% confidence interval 1.27-1.33). CONCLUSIONS: We found no significant difference for 30-day mortality but did demonstrate an association with increase in length of stay associated with the use of beta-lactam + fluoroquinolone. Randomized controlled trials are needed to determine the most effective antibiotics regimes for patients with severe pneumonia.





Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.