Compliance with guidelines-recommended processes in pneumonia: impact of health status and initial signs

• Published in: PloS one 2012-05, Vol.7 (5), p.e37570
• Main Authors: Menéndez, Rosario, Torres, Antoni, Reyes, Soledad, Zalacain, Rafael, Capelastegui, Alberto, Rajas, Olga, Borderías, Luis, Martín-Villasclaras, Juan J, Bello, Salvador, Alfageme, Inmaculada, de Castro, Felipe Rodríguez, Rello, Jordi, Molinos, Luis, Ruiz-Manzano, Juan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adhesion; Adult; Age; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use; Antibiotics; Cardiovascular disease; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Comorbidity; Confusion; Diagnosis; Drug dosages; Emergency medical care; Fever; Guideline Adherence; Guidelines; Health; Health Status; Hospital patients; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Hospitals - standards; Humans; Intensive care; Internal medicine; Kidney diseases; Medical prognosis; Medical research; Medicine; Middle Aged; Mortality; Oxygen; Patients; Pneumonia; Pneumonia - diagnosis; Pneumonia - drug therapy; Practice guidelines (Medicine); Practice Guidelines as Topic; Prospective Studies; Quality; Sepsis; Spain; Studies; Tachycardia; Tachypnea; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0037570

Initial care has been associated with improved survival of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). We aimed to investigate patient comorbidities and health status measured by the Charlson index and clinical signs at diagnosis associated with adherence to recommended processes of care in CAP. We studied 3844 patients hospitalized with CAP. The evaluated recommendations were antibiotic adherence to Spanish guidelines, first antibiotic dose