Association between dementia and discharge status in patients hospitalized with pneumonia

Pneumonia is the most common cause of death in patients with dementia, but the outcomes of patients with dementia hospitalized with pneumonia are poorly understood. We sought to illuminate the association between dementia and in-hospital mortality and discharge status in patients hospitalized with pneumonia.

We used the Diagnosis Procedure Combination database, a national inpatient database in Japan, to identify retrospectively patients aged ≥60 years admitted to hospital with pneumonia during the study period of May 1, 2010 to March 31, 2014. We recorded their sex, age, body mass index, severity of pneumonia and comorbidities (including dementia). The outcomes were in-hospital mortality and discharge home. Multivariable Cox regression analysis was performed to analyze factors influencing discharge home.

We identified 470,829 patients hospitalized with pneumonia; 45,031 were recorded as having dementia (9.6%). In-hospital mortality was 13.1% and 13.4% in patients with and without dementia, respectively (P = 0.63). The proportions of patients discharged home were 52.9% and 71.3% in patients with and without dementia, respectively (P < 0.001). The adjusted hazard ratio for discharge home for patients with dementia was 0.68 (95% confidence interval, 0.67-0.69; P < 0.001).

In-hospital mortality from pneumonia did not differ significantly between patients with and without dementia; however, those with dementia were less likely to be discharged home.