Death rates among patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia: a reexamination with data from three states.
OBJECTIVE
Death rates for community-acquired pneumonia based on relatively small-scale, published studies tend to exceed 15% to 20%. This study reexamined these estimates by using very large, population-based databases.


METHODS
Death rates from 1993 associated with community-acquired pneumonia were reexamined with hospital discharge data from all of Washington, Illinois, and Florida.


RESULTS
These death rates were substantially lower (7.0%, 8.1%, and 9.7%, respectively) than what appears in the literature. Significant risk factors for dying were being 65 years of age or older (odds ratio [OR] = 2.9), being positive for human immunodeficiency virus (OR = 2.9), and having a high severity of illness (OR = 7.1).


CONCLUSIONS
Sampling bias associated with selection for hospital admissions explain the discrepancy between previous and this study's results.
Markowitz
J S
JS
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, NJ 08543-4500, USA.
Pashko
S
S
Gutterman
E M
EM
Linde-Zwirble
W T
WT
Newbold
R
R
D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000401:mortality; D000368:Aged; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000401:mortality*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012307:Risk Factors; D015983:Selection Bias; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014861:Washington / Q000453:epidemiology