title: Factors affecting treatment success in community-acquired pneumonia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Treatment failure in hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia is a major cause of mortality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the factors affecting treatment success in community-acquired pneumonia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 537 patients (mean age: 66.1 ± 15.8 years, 365 males) registered to the Turkish Thoracic Society Pneumonia Database were analyzed. Of these, clinical improvement or cure, defined as treatment success, was achieved in 477, whereas 60 patients had treatment failure and/or died.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Lower numbers of neutrophils (5989.9 ± 6237.3 vs. 8495.6 ± 7279.5/mm3), higher blood urea levels (66.1 ± 42.1 vs. 51.2 ± 38.2 mg/dL), higher Pneumonia Severity Index (PSI) scores (123.3 ± 42.6 vs. 96.3 ± 32.9), higher CURB-65 scores (2.7 ± 1.2 vs. 2.2 ± 0.9), lower PaO2/FiO2ratios (216.3 ± 86.8 vs. 269.9 ± 65.6), and the presence of multilobar (33.3% vs. 16.4%) and bilateral (41.7% vs. 18.9%) radiologic infiltrates were related to treatment failure. The PSI score and PaO2/FiO2ratio were independent parameters affecting treatment results in multivariate linear regression analysis (P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The risk of treatment failure is high in patients with severe pneumonia and with respiratory failure. Effective treatment and close monitoring are required for these cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chest Diseases, Adıyaman University Training and Research Hospital, Adıyaman, Turkey.
authors.forename: Canan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gündüz
authors.affiliation: Department of Chest Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, İzmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet Sezai
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Taşbakan
authors.affiliation: Department of Chest Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, İzmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Abdullah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sayıner
authors.affiliation: Department of Chest Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Aykut
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Çilli
authors.affiliation: Department of Chest Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Oğuz
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kılınç
authors.affiliation: Department of Chest Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Celal Bayar University, Manisa, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ayşın
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Şakar Coşkun
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011014:Pneumonia; D011379:Prognosis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Community-acquired pneumonia; PaO 2 /FiO 2; pneumonia severity index; treatment failure,