[Characteristics and duration of hospitalization among middle-aged and elderly patients with community-acquired...

Objective: To investigate the characteristics, underlying patterns of disease and treatments on middle-aged and elderly patients who suffered from community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and factors related to the duration of hospitalization of this disease. Methods: Descriptive study was conducted to depict the characteristics, underlying disease patterns and treatments on patients who were older than 40 years of age. Data was collected through medical records of the patients, retrospectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to explore those factors that affecting the duration of hospitalization. Results: A total of 6 231 cases, with 3 583 (57.5%) males were involved. Mean age of the patients was 69.87±12.32. Underlying diseases would include hypertension (31.8%) and diabetes (16.6%), with most pathogens bacteria (25.4%) or fungus (14.9%) related. 97.7% of the patients received antibiotics. Factors as age (OR=1.005, 95%CI: 1.001-1.009), smoking habit (OR=1.292, 95% CI: 1.159-1.441), tumor (OR=1.217, 95% CI: 1.022-1.449), congestive heart failure (OR=1.323, 95% CI: 1.076-1.626), glucocorticoid treatment (OR=1.744, 95% CI: 1.545-1.969) and ICU admission (OR=2.724, 95%CI: 2.031-3.654) were significantly related to the duration of hospitalization. Conclusions: Patients above the age of 40 who suffered from community-acquired pneumonia were often accompanied by underlying diseases. Factors as age, smoking habit, tumor, congestive heart failure, glucocorticoid treatment and ICU admission would affect the duration of hospitalization.