BTS clinical statement on aspiration pneumonia

Strategies to prevent or reduce inequalities in specific avoidable causes of death for adults with intellectual disability: A systematic review

“…Nine were reviews: four were literature reviews (Manduchi et al, 2020;Okuni & Ebihara, 2022;Son et al, 2017;Tay et al, 2014), three were systematic reviews (Hansen et al, 2022;Santos et al, 2021;van der Maarel-Wierink et al, 2013), one was a scoping review (Chen et al, 2021) and one an illustrative review (McCarthy et al, 2022). One paper was a clinical statement (Simpson et al, 2023) and one was a prospective randomised study (Takatori et al, 2013).…”

“…Aspiration pneumonia was reported to have high morbidity and mortality, and prevention is crucial (Son et al, 2017). Risk factors included an altered mental state, sedation or reduced level of consciousness, dysphagia or swallowing difficulties, neurological conditions, upper gastrointestinal disease including reflux, oral or dental disease, being tube-fed, over-or underweight or a smoker, remaining in a supine position for a prolonged period of time and hurried or inattentive feeding by carers (Simpson et al, 2023;Son et al, 2017). The aim of preventative measures was to reduce the frequency and amount of aspiration and to minimise the colonisation of pathogenic organisms (Son et al, 2017).…”

“…Specific strategies to prevent aspiration pneumonia in the selected literature included regular observation and assessment of swallowing in those at risk, pneumonia, but that it was the response that followed that was important in its prevention. Referral to speech and language therapists for people at risk of swallowing problems, so that multidisciplinary interventions at an individual level can be implemented, was optimal for aspiration management (Chen et al, 2021;Simpson et al, 2023). The importance of good multidisciplinary communication was underlined by McCarthy et al (2022).…”

BTS Clinical Statement on the prevention and management of community-acquired pneumonia in people with learning disability

“…176 The emerging consensus is that community-acquired AP is commonly polymicrobial, and studies have identified a significant role of other causative bacteria such as Gram-negative bacteria (eg, Klebsiella spp, Enterobacter spp and Escherichia coli) and Staphylococcus aureus. 177 Viruses may also be the causative agent including influenza A, influenza B and, particularly in children, respiratory syncytial virus. [178][179][180] Bacterial coinfection may occur in the context of a viral pneumonia 178 181 with the most common bacterial coinfections including S. aureus and S. pneumoniae.…”

BTS on community‐acquired and aspiration pneumonia

“…"The most recent BTS Clinical Statements cover two aspects of the management of pneumonia: communityacquired pneumonia in people with learning disability 2 and aspiration pneumonia. 3 Both helpfully include a summary of the main clinical practice points separate from the very detailed text.…”