Hospital deaths from the most common form of pneumonia decreased by 14% between 2009 and 2015 according to new research published online in Thorax, the journal of the British Thoracic Society (BTS.)
The UK study showed that key elements of hospital care for community acquired pneumonia (CAP) improved during this period and could have contributed to the fall in deaths, including:
- An 11.5% increase in the proportion of adults who received their first dose of antibiotics within four hours of being admitted to hospital.
- A 3.7% increase in the proportion of adults who had a chest x-ray to help confirm the diagnosis within four hours of being admitted to hospital.
- A 1.7% increase in the administration of appropriate antibiotics, in line with local guidelines.
The research analysed data from 23,315 UK hospital admissions for community acquired pneumonia (CAP) across six years between 2009 and 2014. Overall, pneumonia is the sixth biggest cause of death in the UK. It kills 29,000 people a year and is the third biggest cause of death from lung disease – with deaths mainly occurring in older people and children and babies under 10 years. Around 220,000 people receive a diagnosis of pneumonia each year.
Lung specialists have pointed to the probable role of national medical guidelines, from the British Thoracic Society and NICE, in helping drive these improvements. But they have also warned against complacency as the death rate in UK from pneumonia is the third highest in Europe.
The reduction in inpatient deaths, which occurred within 30 days of hospital admission, happened despite there being no change in the severity of the disease when the patient was admitted and the average age of the patient actually increasing over the six years studied. The joint study was undertaken by the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Nottingham University Hospital’s NHS Trust and the British Thoracic Society.
Professor Wei Shen Lim, consultant respiratory specialist at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and member of the British Thoracic Society, said: “This fall in pneumonia deaths within 30 days of admission to hospital is very encouraging and suggests that local NHS hospitals have put in place measures to improve diagnosis, treatment and care. We hope that improvements continue to be made and that the new ‘Quality Standard’ from NICE accelerates this process. Variations in deaths are apparent across the UK, however, and BTS is working to further understand these variations and support centres that are striving towards improvements.”
