[Prognosis of acute pneumococcal respiratory insufficiency requiring mechanical ventilation]

A retrospective study was carried out between 1980 and 1988 in an attempt to determine the prognostic factors in pneumococcal pneumonia requiring mechanical ventilation. Thirty-six of the 57 patients studied died (63 per cent). The initial severity of the lung disease, was the same in the patients who died and in those who survived. The risk of death was associated with the severity of the septic syndrome, as evaluated by the presence of septic shock, acute renal failure and disseminated intravascular coagulation.