A population-based study on the impact of hospitalization for pneumonia in different age groups

Abstract

BackgroundPneumonia is an important cause of illness and death, particularly in elderly adults. This retrospective study was conducted to estimate the trend of hospitalization for pneumonia in the Veneto from the records of all hospitals in the region (serving a population of 4.81 million) during the years 2004 through 2012.MethodsThe cases of pneumonia identified in the hospital discharge records were all cases in which the first-listed diagnosis was pneumonia, or meningitis, septicemia or empyema associated with pneumonia. The annual total and age-specific hospitalization rates and trends were calculated and correlated with vaccine coverage. Total related costs were also calculated.ResultsThere were 110,927 hospitalizations for pneumonia, meaning an annual rate of 256.3/100,000 population, with peaks in children and elderly people. The overall pneumonia-related hospitalization rate did not change significantly during the study period (AAPC: 1.3% [95% CI: −0.5, 3.1]). The rate dropped significantly among the 0- to 4-year-olds, however, from 617.3/100,000 in 2004 to 451.8/100,000 in 2012 (AAPC: −2.5% [95% CI: −4.5; −0.5]), while it increased slightly in adults aged 80+ (AAPC: 1.2% [95% CI: −0.9; 3.4]). The overall pneumonia-related mortality rate was 10.7%. The estimated cost per hospitalized patient was €3,090.ConclusionThis study shows that hospitalization for pneumonia has a considerable impact on the health services, especially for children and the elderly. No decline in hospitalization rates was seen for the very elderly after the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccination for children.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2334-14-485) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Burden of pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia in adults across Europe: A literature review

“…Increases in the incidence rates of hospitalised CAP were also reported over time in Denmark [31], Germany [26], the Netherlands [53], Portugal [57], and the United Kingdom [91,92]. However, there was only minimal or variable change in France [34] and Italy [43,47,48], and a minimal change or decrease in Norway that was dependent on age [54]. There was an increase in hospitalised pneumococcal CAP in Spain [67], a minimal change in France [34], and a decrease in Norway [54] and the United Kingdom [83].…”

“…The countries with the most data sources were Spain (23 studies plus an additional study combining Italian and Spanish data) [5,25,28,49,[59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78] and the United Kingdom (14 studies) [80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88] followed by Italy (7 plus the additional study combining Italian and Spanish data) [42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49], the Netherlands (6 studies) [21,27,[50][51][52][53], Germany [26,[37][38]…”

Should Very Old Patients Be Admitted to the Intensive Care Units?

“…Most of the respiratory diagnoses were acute respiratory distress syndrome or pneumonia, which showed higher proportions among the elderly patients in a previous study [24].…”

Estimating the Clinical and Economic Impact of Switching from the 13-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV13) to the 10-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV10) in Italy

“…AOM incidence from 2010-present was assumed to be stable due to the lack of evidence in Italy on the change in mucosal disease following the implementation of PCV13. The incidence of hospitalized pneumonia was obtained from a study of pneumonia-related hospitalization in the Veneto region [35] for adults ≥18 years and assumed to be representative of national data. The incidence of hospitalized pneumonia in children under 18 years was obtained from a syndromic surveillance system active in the emergency departments of the main hospitals of the Liguria region [36].…”