title: I-ROAD could be efficient in predicting severity of community-acquired pneumonia or healthcare-associated pneumonia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The ability to predict the prognosis of patients with pneumonia is critical, especially when making decisions regarding treatment regimens and sites of care. However, prognostic guidelines for healthcare-associated pneumonia (HCAP) have yet to be established. I-ROAD is the prognostic guideline of the Japanese Respiratory Society for hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP). This study compared available prognostic guidelines to determine the usefulness of I-ROAD as a prognostic tool for patients with HCAP.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a retrospective review of all patients with pneumonia admitted to Kameda Medical Center, Japan, from January 2006 to September 2009. Patients were categorised into two groups, namely those with community acquired pneumonia (CAP) and those with HCAP. We compared the baseline characteristics, laboratory findings, identified pathogens, antibiotic regimens, clinical outcomes, pneumonic severity and prognostic accuracy of each guideline between the two patient groups. The severity of each disease was assessed on admission using the A-DROP, CURB-65, PSI and I-ROAD guidelines.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 302 patients evaluated, 228 (75.5%) were diagnosed with CAP and 74 (24.5%) with HCAP. Patients with HCAP were older and had a higher performance status than patients with CAP. The mortality rate in the CAP group tended to rise with increasing severity scores of prognostic guidelines. Although the severity scores of all prognostic guidelines could predict 30-day mortality in patients with CAP, I-ROAD exhibited a higher discriminatory power for patients with HCAP based on analysis of receiver-operating characteristic curves.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  I-ROAD could be more accurate than other prognostic guidelines for evaluating the severity of HCAP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonology, Kameda Medical Center, 929 Higashi-cho, Kamogawa City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan 296-8602. manutsuma@gmail.com.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Matsunuma
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Asai
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohkuni
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakashima
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Misawa
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Norihiro
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D055552:Infectious Disease Medicine / Q000592:standards*; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012955:Societies, Medical