How long should we treat community-acquired pneumonia?
OBJECTIVE
The studies reviewed in this article suggest that a shorter duration of antibiotic therapy is comparable to standard therapy in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia and promotes reduction of adverse events, microbial resistance, cost, and improved patient compliance.


RESULTS
Community-acquired pneumonia has traditionally been treated with a 7-14-day course of antimicrobial therapy. Since there have been few well controlled trials regarding the optimal duration of therapy, however, there has been no consensus on length of therapy among different organizational guidelines. Several recent studies have demonstrated that shorter course antibiotic regimens are effective in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia.


CONCLUSIONS
Short-course antibiotic therapy is equivalent to standard length of therapy for clinical cure and bacterial eradication. Minimization of drug exposure, however, reduces selection pressure for resistant strains, strengthens patient compliance, and potentially reduces adverse events such as Clostridium difficile infections.
Scalera
Nikole M
NM
Summa Health System, Akron, Ohio 44304, USA.
File
Thomas M
TM
D000328:Adult; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000188:drug therapy; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000188:drug therapy*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents