Abstract

BackgroundPneumonia is a common cause of infection associated with hospitalization. Treatment durations for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) often exceed guideline recommended durations of 5–7 days without a clear explanation. The objective of this study was to determine factors that may lead to durations exceeding this recommendation.MethodsA retrospective chart review of 89 patients admitted to the Detroit Medical Center (DMC) for the treatment of pneumonia was conducted. Demographics, clinical signs and symptoms, antibiotic data, pneumonia severity score (CURB 65), risk factors for resistance, microbiology results, and outcomes were recorded and analyzed for factors associated with increased durations of antibiotics. Average durations of antibiotics and durations of antibiotics greater that 7 days were assessed for each risk factor.ResultsAverage durations of antibiotics was 9 days (SD 3.8) for the cohort, and 55 (61%) received durations of > 7 days. Average durations of antibiotics for risk factors are shown in Table 1. Factors associated with durations of antibiotics longer than 7 days are shown in Table 2. There was a trend toward longer average durations of antibiotics for persons with risk factors for resistance [Drug Resistance in Pneumonia (DRIP) score ≥ 4 (increased duration of antibiotics by 1.7 days, P = 0.07] and those with a positive legionella antigen [increased durations of antibiotics by 6.6 days, P = 0.07].ConclusionSpecific risk factors could not be associated with increased durations of antibiotics, although there was a trend toward longer durations for persons with markers for resistance and positive legionella testing. Efforts to reduce durations of antibiotics must target global clinician antibiotic prescribing patterns and not specific risk factors. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

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