Analysis of Advanced Age Pneumonia Cases and Factors Effective on Treatment Success

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyse those pneumonia patients at the age of 70 years and above, who were hospitalised in our clinic and to determine the factors affecting treatment success.
Methods: The recordings of the patients who were hospitalised in our clinic due to the diagnosis of pneumonia between January 2012 and January 2013 were retrospectively evaluated. Patients aged 70-years and older were involved in the study. Those patients who died or transferred to the intensive care unit were considered treatment failure. The data obtained for the patients with treatment failure and for the patients discharged from hospital in good health were compared.
Results: Of the cases, 55 were found to be 70 years old and above. The mean age of the patients was 79.7±6.3 years (70-97). Twenty seven patients (49.1%) were male and 28 patients (50.9%) were female. The group with treatment failure included 7 patients (12.7%) and the group with treatment success included 48 patients (87.3%). In the group with treatment failure, the mean age was 83.8±6.8 (75-97) years, the most common symptom was cough (57.1%), and the most common concurrent diseases were diabetes mellitus (42.9%) and cerebrovascular disease (42.9%). In the group with treatment success, the mean age was 79.1 ±6.0 years (70-94), the most common symptom was cough (66.7%), the most common concurrent diseases were hypertension and congestive heart failure (50%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (33.3%). Treatment failure was found to be significantly higher in women (p=0.04), in individuals living in nursing homes (p=0.04), in patients with multilobar involvement (p=0.009), in the presence of pleural fluid (p=0.03) and in patients in the pneumonia Group 3 class according to the pneumonia classification system of the Turkish Thoracic Society (p=0.04). In the group with treatment success, the concentrations of serum sodium were significantly lower.
Conclusion: In advanced age pneumonia cases, living in a nursing home, being female, having a radiological presence of multilobar involvement and pleural fluid, and being in the pneumonia Group 3 class were more likely to be associated with treatment failure.