Adults With Pneumonia Often Fail First Antibiotic Older age, female sex associated with higher risk of failure

Nearly one in four adults prescribed a first-line antibiotic for community-acquired pneumonia failed treatment and required additional antibiotics, researchers reported here. Predictors of antibiotic failure included older age, being female, and having pneumococcal pneumonia, according to James A McKinnell, MD, of LA BioMed in Los Angeles and the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles, and colleagues. Patients who were ages 65 and older were nearly twice as likely to be hospitalized than younger patients in the adjusted analysis, they reported at the American Thoracic Society meeting. "Pneumonia is the leading cause of death from infectious disease in the United States, so it is concerning that we found nearly one in four patients with community-acquired pneumonia required additional antibiotic therapy, subsequent hospitalization or emergency room evaluation," McKinnell noted in a press statement. https://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ATS/65526?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2017-05-24&eun=g721819d0r&pos=1