Treatment Failure in Patients with Moderately Severe Community-Acquired Pneumonia

Data suggest that older age and male sex are associated with higher risk for treatment failure.

Previously identified risk factors for treatment failure for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) included advanced age, smoking, malnutrition, and comorbidities such as chronic pulmonary disease, asthma, and immunosuppression. In a previously published randomized trial, researchers in France studied antibiotic treatment duration (3 vs. 8 days of β-lactam treatment) among 300 patients hospitalized with moderately severe CAP who reached clinical stability by day 3 of treatment; 3 days of antibiotic treatment was noninferior to 8 days (NEJM JW Gen Med May 15 2021 and Lancet 2021; 397:1195). In this secondary analysis of the same patients, the investigators evaluated factors associated with treatment failure.

The incidence of treatment failure at…

Reviewing Author

Andrew S. Parsons, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardNEJM Healer Advisory Group; Aquifer Clinical Excellence; NBME Clinical Reasoning

Grant/Research SupportSouthern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA)

Editorial BoardsDiagnosis

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesUndergraduate Medical Education (UME) Section Chair, Southern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA); Chair of Early Career Physicians, American College of Physicians (ACP), Virginia Chapter

Andrew S. Parsons, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardNEJM Healer Advisory Group; Aquifer Clinical Excellence; NBME Clinical Reasoning

Grant/Research SupportSouthern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA)

Editorial BoardsDiagnosis

Treatment Failure in Patients with Moderately Severe Community-Acquired Pneumonia

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Reviewing Author