Abstract
Background: To evaluate the clinical characteristics of HCAP patients admitted into secondary hospitals in Korea. Methods: This study was retrospectively conducted between March 2009 and January 2011. Results: Among 303 patients, 31.7% had HCAP. 42 (43.7%) resided in a long-term care facility, 36 (37.5%) were hospitalized in an acute care hospital for ≥ 2 days within 90 days. The rates of patients with CURB-65 ≥ 3 (22.9% vs. 9.1%) and PSI IV or more (82.2% vs. 34.7%) were higher in the HCAP group. Drug resistant pathogens were more frequently detected in the HCAP group (23.9% vs. 0.4%; p<0.001). Despite lower overall survival rate (p<0.001), multivariable analyses failed to show that HCAP was a prognostic factor for mortality.
Only PSI class was associated with mortality (p=0.005).
Conclusions: Although HCAP should be distinguised from CAP, current definition of HCAP seems not to be prognostic for death.
- © 2012 ERS