Disease characteristics and management of hospitalised adolescents and adults with community-acquired pneumonia in China: a retrospective multicentre survey

Objectives To describe the clinical characteristics and management of patients hospitalised with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in China. Design This was a multicentre, retrospective, observational study. Setting 13 teaching hospitals in northern, central and southern China from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2014 Participants Information on hospitalised patients aged >= 14 years with radiographically confirmed pneumonia with illness onset in the community was collected using standard case report forms. Primary and secondary outcome measures Resource use for CAP management. Results Of 14 793 patients screened, 5828 with radiographically confirmed CAP were included in the final analysis. Low mortality risk patients with a CURB-65 score 0-1 and Pneumonia Severity Index risk class I-II accounted for 81.2% (4434/5594) and 56.4% (2034/3609) patients, respectively. 21.7% (1111/5130) patients had already achieved clinical stability on admission. A definite or probable pathogen was identified only in 12.7% (738/5828) patients. 40.9% (1575/3852) patients without pseudomonal infection risk factors received antimicrobial overtreatment regimens. The median duration between clinical stability to discharge was 5.0 days with 30-day mortality of 4.2%. Conclusions These data demonstrated the overuse of health resources in CAP management, indicating that there is potential for improvement and substantial savings to healthcare systems in China.