A study defines predictors of sepsis in patients with pneumonia

The scientific journal PLOS ONE recently published a study with the participation of the Innovation in Pneumonia and Sepsis group of Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) which includes the main risk factors for sepsis in patients with pneumonia, enabling prevention or early treatment with antibiotics.

This study, whose first author is Dr. Beatriz Montull, pulmonologist of the Clinical Area for Respiratory Diseases of the University and Polytechnic Hospital La Fe in Valencia, concluded that patients with kidney diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), people over 65 years old, and regular alcohol consumers have an increased risk of serious symptoms of pneumonia with sepsis.

Currently, one out of three patients hospitalized with pneumonia presents sepsis on admission, that is, that there is already some organ failure. The most common causative microorganisms are pneumococcal, bacteremia and the mixed infections.

As stressed by Dr. Rosario Menéndez, director of the Clinical Area for Respiratory Diseases of the Hospital La Fe and national coordinator of NAC study quality of the Spanish Society of Respiratory Diseases and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR), "our findings are useful to implement preventive measures of pneumonia in this population, both in the area of primary care and any other health care level, that includes influenza and pneumococcal vaccines, the smoking and alcohol cessation and to propose healthy lifestyles. Furthermore, these results emphasize the importance of recognizing the signs of serious illness as early as possible for rapid initiation of antibiotic treatment."

We studied data from 4,070 patients admitted for pneumonia in 13 hospitals throughout Spain. In addition to the Hospital La Fe, also participated the hospitals Clínic, Vall d'Hebron and Trias i Pujol of Barcelona, the Cruces and Galdakao hospitals of Vizcaya, and hospitals La Princesa in Madrid, San Jorge from Huesca, Carlos Haya in Malaga, Miguel Servet in Zaragoza, Valme in Seville and Central from Asturias.

The Area for Respiratory Diseases of the University and Polytechnic Hospital La Fe assist each year about 300 patients hospitalized for community-acquired pneumonia. Sepsis, such as noted by the study, affects more those with chronic respiratory diseases such as COPD, heart disease and diabetes.