WEDNESDAY, March 24, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- Elderly patients with pneumonia who receive antibiotics within four hours of their arrival at the hospital have shorter stays and are less likely to die, says a study in the March 22 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Researchers form the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in Seattle analyzed medical records of 18,209 Medicare patients older than 65 who were hospitalized with pneumonia from July 1998 through March 1999.
The study found that among the 13,771 patients (75.6 percent) who didn't receive any treatment for their pneumonia before they arrived at a hospital, antibiotic administration within four hours of arrival was associated with: reduced risk of death in the hospital (6.8 percent vs. 7.4 percent); reduced risk of dying within 30 days of admission to the hospital (11.6 percent vs. 12.7 percent); and reduced likelihood that their length of hospital stay was greater than five days (42.1 percent vs. 45.1 percent).
The average length of a hospital stay was a half day less for patients who received antibiotics within four hours of their arrival. Overall, 60.9 percent of the patients received antibiotics within that time period.
"While most Medicare inpatients with pneumonia already receive antibiotics within that time, a substantial proportion do not. Given the growing size of the Medicare population, any additional improvement in administration timing could prevent a substantial number of deaths each year and preserve health-care resources," the study authors write.
Pneumonia is the second leading cause of hospitalization among Medicare beneficiaries, accounting for more than 600,000 Medicare hospitalizations each year. Pneumonia is the fifth leading cause of death among Americans aged 65 and older.
More information
The American Lung Association has more about pneumonia.
