[Comparison of the combination and quinolone therapy in community acquired pneumonia]

Objective of this study is to compare the difference between the length of hospitalisation, cost of treatment and treatment outcome of patients diagnosed with community acquired pneumonia and treated with beta-lactam-macrolide combination or fluoroquinolone monotherapy, according to 2009 Turkish Thoracic Society (TTS) Guide of Diagnosis and Treatment of Community Acquired Pneumonia in Adults (TTSCAPG).

Patients diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) between November 2010 and November 2011 in our hospital were included. The data was entered into TTS pneumonia database. Cases were examined for their accordance with TTSCAPG. Clinical outcomes of the patients treated with beta-lactam-macrolide combination or fluoroquinolone, were compared.

One hundred and fifty six patients diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia were included. 67.3% of the patients were treated according to the guideline. Of the patients treated in accordance with the guideline, 86.7% were treated with beta-lactam-macrolide combination and 13.3% with fluoroquinolone. Of the patients treated with combination therapy, the treatment was effective in 77.7%, ineffective in 11.8% and 10.6% resulted in death; where as the patients treated with fluoroquinolone, the treatment was effective in 84.7%, ineffective in 15.4%, none of them resulted in death.

Cases diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia and treated according to the TTSCAPG guideline were evaluated for effectiveness of combination therapy versus fluoroquinolone; no statistically difference in terms of age, diseases, length of stay, treatment outcomes, cost of treatment could be established. There was only a numerical difference between mortality outcomes of the two antibiotherapy groups compared, however the statistical difference was not significant.