OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether high alcohol intake is an independent risk factor for community-acquired pneumonia in middle-aged people and whether it confers a poor prognosis. METHODS: A two-phase study was performed. Risk factors for community-acquired pneumonia were evaluated in a case-control study of 50 patients and 50 controls. Prognostic factors and microbiologic and clinical features were then evaluated in a cohort study of the 50 middle-aged patients with community-acquired pneumonia. RESULTS: In the first study, the only independent risk factor for community-acquired pneumonia was high alcohol intake (P < .02). In the second study, patients with chronic alcoholism had a higher incidence of pneumonia caused by gram-negative bacilli (P < .03), as well as a higher incidence of Candida albicans (P < .03), Staphylococcus aureus (P < .0001), and gram-negative bacilli (P < .001) in the cultures of pharyngeal smears than did the nonalcoholics. Compared with nonalcoholic patients, alcoholic patients with pneumonia showed more severe clinical symptoms (P < .02), required longer intravenous treatment (P < .02) and longer hospital stay (P < .01), and had multilobar involvement and pleural effusion (both P < .01), as well as slower resolution of pulmonary infiltrates. The only prognostic factor for mortality was high alcohol intake (P < .03). CONCLUSIONS: High alcohol intake is the main risk factor for developing community-acquired pneumonia in middle-aged people. This situation also confers a worse prognosis in these patients, who should be treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics for a longer period.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether high alcohol intake is an independent risk factor for community-acquired pneumonia in middle-aged people and whether it confers a poor prognosis. METHODS: A two-phase study was performed. Risk factors for community-acquired pneumonia were evaluated in a case-control study of 50 patients and 50 controls. Prognostic factors and microbiologic and clinical features were then evaluated in a cohort study of the 50 middle-aged patients with community-acquired pneumonia. RESULTS: In the first study, the only independent risk factor for community-acquired pneumonia was high alcohol intake (P < .02). In the second study, patients with chronic alcoholism had a higher incidence of pneumonia caused by gram-negative bacilli (P < .03), as well as a higher incidence of Candida albicans (P < .03), Staphylococcus aureus (P < .0001), and gram-negative bacilli (P < .001) in the cultures of pharyngeal smears than did the nonalcoholics. Compared with nonalcoholic patients, alcoholicpatients with pneumonia showed more severe clinical symptoms (P < .02), required longer intravenous treatment (P < .02) and longer hospital stay (P < .01), and had multilobar involvement and pleural effusion (both P < .01), as well as slower resolution of pulmonary infiltrates. The only prognostic factor for mortality was high alcohol intake (P < .03). CONCLUSIONS: High alcohol intake is the main risk factor for developing community-acquired pneumonia in middle-aged people. This situation also confers a worse prognosis in these patients, who should be treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics for a longer period.
Authors: Jürgen Rehm; Dolly Baliunas; Guilherme L G Borges; Kathryn Graham; Hyacinth Irving; Tara Kehoe; Charles D Parry; Jayadeep Patra; Svetlana Popova; Vladimir Poznyak; Michael Roerecke; Robin Room; Andriy V Samokhvalov; Benjamin Taylor Journal: Addiction Date: 2010-03-15 Impact factor: 6.526
Authors: Lionel A Mandell; Richard G Wunderink; Antonio Anzueto; John G Bartlett; G Douglas Campbell; Nathan C Dean; Scott F Dowell; Thomas M File; Daniel M Musher; Michael S Niederman; Antonio Torres; Cynthia G Whitney Journal: Clin Infect Dis Date: 2007-03-01 Impact factor: 9.079
Authors: David K Meyerholz; Michelle Edsen-Moore; Jodi McGill; Ruth A Coleman; Robert T Cook; Kevin L Legge Journal: J Immunol Date: 2008-07-01 Impact factor: 5.422
Authors: David Zaridze; Paul Brennan; Jillian Boreham; Alex Boroda; Rostislav Karpov; Alexander Lazarev; Irina Konobeevskaya; Vladimir Igitov; Tatiana Terechova; Paolo Boffetta; Richard Peto Journal: Lancet Date: 2009-06-27 Impact factor: 79.321