The association between pre-hospital antibiotic therapy and subsequent in-hospital mortality in adults presenting with community-acquired pneumonia: an observational study

BACKGROUND: The majority of patients with community acquired-pneumonia (CAP) are treated in primary care and the mortality in this group is very low. However, a small but significant proportion of patients who begin treatment in the community subsequently require admission due to symptomatic deterioration. This study compared patients who received community antibiotics prior to admission to those who had not, and looked for associations with clinical outcomes. METHODS: This study analysed the Advancing Quality (AQ) Pneumonia database of patients admitted with CAP to 9 acute hospitals in the northwest of England over a 12-month period. RESULTS: There were 6348 subjects (mean age 72 [SD 16] years; gender ratio 1:1) admitted with CAP, of whom 17% had been pre-treated with antibiotics. The in-hospital mortality was 18.6% for the pre-treatment group compared to 13.2% in the “antibiotic naïve” group (p < 0.001). On multivariate analysis, age, male gender and antibiotic pre-treatment were predictors of in-hospital mortality along with a history of cerebrovascular accident, congestive cardiac failure, dementia, renal disease and cancer. After adjustment for CURB-65 score, age, co-morbidities and pre-treatment with antibiotics remained as independent risk factors for in-hospital mortality (OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.19–1.71). CONCLUSION: CAP patients admitted to hospital were more likely to die during admission if they had received antibiotics for the same illness pre-admission. Future studies should endeavor to determine the mechanisms underlying this association, such as microbiological factors and the role of comorbidities. Patients hospitalized with CAP despite prior antibiotic treatment in the community require close monitoring. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s41479-018-0047-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.