ABSTRACT
The number of individuals receiving health care outside the hospital setting, including
home wound care or infusion therapy, dialysis, nursing homes, and similar settings
is constantly increasing. One of the most frequent causes of hospitalization and mortality
in these patients is pneumonia. Hence a new class of pneumonia has been identified:
healthcare-associated pneumonia (HCAP).
The last American Thoracic Society/Infectious Disease Society of America (ATS/IDSA)
guidelines define specific criteria to identify HCAP; however, the clinical practice
suggests that the presence of indwelling devices (permanent catheters, etc.) may also
be considered an additional criterion.
Different studies have shown that, in comparison with community-acquired pneumonia
(CAP) patients, HCAP patients are significantly older, have a higher number of comorbidities
(cerebrovascular diseases, congestive heart failure, dementia, and diabetes mellitus)
and show worse functional status before admission. It has also been observed that
HCAP differs from CAP in terms of clinical presentation, risk factors, etiology, prognostics,
and, likely, therapeutic approach. The clinical presentation of HCAP is often unusual
because it is frequently conditioned by advanced age, multiple chronic comorbidities,
and neurological disorders. Classic respiratory symptoms of pneumonia are often mild
in HCAP, whereas extrapulmonary manifestations, including mental confusion and gastrointestinal
disorders, are frequent. HCAP patients, commonly present a worse clinical presentation
(hypoxemia, altered consciousness, Fine score, multilobar infiltrates, etc.) than
CAP, and a mortality rate close to that of hospital-acquired pneumonia. Many studies
have attributed these findings to a nosocomial etiology [methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Pseudomonas aeruginosa , etc.] with a high frequency of multidrug-resistant infections (MRIs), even though
this remains controversial. Further investigation on microbial composition and MRI
risk factors of HCAP is fundamental because no definitive therapeutic indications
are currently available.
KEYWORDS
Healthcare-associated pneumonia - healthcare-associated infections - nursing home–acquired
pneumonia - long-term care facilities
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Antoni TorresM.D. Ph.D.
Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Clinic Institute of Thorax (ICT), Hospital Clinic
of Barcelona–Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS)–University
of Barcelona (UB)–Ciber de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), c. Villarroel
170, 08036 Barcelona, Spain
eMail: atorres@ub.edu