Elsevier

Respiratory Medicine

Volume 100, Issue 1, January 2006, Pages 46-55
Respiratory Medicine

Epidemiological survey on incidence and treatment of community acquired pneumonia in Italy

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmed.2005.04.013Get rights and content
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Summary

Study objectives

To estimate annual incidence of community acquired pneumonia (CAP) in an Italian general population sample.

Design and participants

Two hundred and eighty-seven family practitioners (64.6% of those selected) recorded suspected or ascertained CAP cases for 1 year. Information on smoking habit, respiratory symptoms and signs, co-morbidity, antibiotic and corticosteroid therapy, hospitalization, mortality and recovery were obtained.

Results

Six hundred and ninety-nine case forms were collected (53.1% females, mean age 59.6±19.5, 20.6% smokers). CAP incidence rates per 1000 population were: 1.69 in men vs. 1.71 in women; 2.33 in the North vs. 1.29 in the Centre-South of Italy; between 0.73 in 14-, and 3.34 in 64+year-old subjects. Main symptoms and signs were cough (73.3%), crackles (72.8%), dullness (57.3%), asthenia (53.4%). 59.5% of subjects had concurrent diseases, mostly cardiac and respiratory. 77.2% of cases had chest X-ray (with parenchymal density in 90.6%). Phlegm microbiological examination was performed in 12.8% of cases. First choice antibiotics were cephalosporins (45.8%), macrolides (20.2%), other β-lactams (18.6%), and fluoroquinolones (12.2%). Rates of hospitalization and of mortality were 31.8% and 6.0%, respectively.

Conclusion

This study confirmed that the annual CAP incidence rate in the general population of South Europe is about 2 per 1000 population and showed a wide choice of antibiotic treatment.

Abbreviations

CNR
Italian National Research Council
CAP
community acquired pneumonia
LRTIs
lower respiratory tract infections
FP
family practitioner
ERS
European Respiratory Society
AIPO
Italian Association of Hospital Pneumologists
SIMeR
Italian Society of Respiratory Medicine
SIMG
Italian Society of General Practitioners
SPSS
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
COM
“white forms” reporting information on diagnostic suspicion formulated directly by FP
HOS
“blue forms” reporting information on diagnosis made within the hospital
COPD
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
IDSA
Infectious Disease Society of America
ATS
American Thoracic Society
BTS
British Thoracic Society
PORT
Pneumonia Patient Outcomes Research Team

Keywords

Community acquired pneumonia
Epidemiology
Incidence
Antibiotics
Family practitioners

Cited by (0)

This work was supported in part by an educational grant of Smith-Kline-Beecham—Italy and of GlaxoSmithKline, Greenford, Middlesex, UK.