Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) is significantly higher in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.
This retrospective cohort study included 37,029 patients with HAP, with data obtained from national hospital discharge database. Researchers identified diagnoses of non-ventilator (NV)-HAP and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).
According to the results, HAP incidence increased over time, but only in subjects without COPD. In women, the results showed that incidence of HAP and NV-HAP was similar regardless of COPD status, but VAP incidence was lower in women with COPD. In men, the incidence of NV-HAP was significantly higher in those with COPD, while VAP incidence was lower in those with COPD. The risk of in-hospital mortality (IHM) was similar in men and women with and without COPD. The overall risk of in-hospital mortality increased with age, congestive heart failure, cancer, and dialysis among men and women with COPD.
“Incidence of HAP was significantly higher in COPD patients than in those without COPD, at the expense of NV-HAP but not of VAP. When stratifying by sex, we found that the difference was caused by men. IHM was similar in COPD and non-COPD patients, with no significant change overtime. In addition, sex was not associated with IHM,” the researchers concluded.
Keywords: COPD, gender, hospital-acquired pneumonia, incidence, non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia, ventilator-associated pneumonia
