Clinical-epidemiological characteristics of patients diagnosed with severe community-acquired pneumonia

Abstract

Introduction: community-acquired pneumonia is considered a priority health problem internationally.

Objective: to characterize patients diagnosed with severe community-acquired pneumonia treated in the ICU and UCIE of the Hospital General Docente Orlando Pantoja Tamayo, Granma, Cuba, according to clinical and epidemiological aspects.

Method: an observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out on 107 patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia, between January 2021 and December 2023. The corresponding summary measures were applied for each type of clinical and epidemiological variable, in the comparison between the variables according to sex, the Chi-square test for homogeneity and the Mann-Whitney U test were used as appropriate. The Chi-square test of independence was used to explore the association between variables. For each statistical test, a confidence level α=0.05 was applied.

Results: sepsis was present in 47.2% of patients and mortality reached 43.0% of the studied sample. The median for age was 65.0 years (IQR=23.0). A significant statistical association was found between the variables: multiple organ dysfunction, sepsis, positive vasoactive-inotropic drugs, multilobar infiltrate, slow capillary refill and thermal gradient with the status at discharge.

Conclusions: severe community-acquired pneumonia occurs at an advanced age, with the presence of sepsis and a high mortality rate; Furthermore, multiple organ dysfunction, sepsis, positive vasoactive-inotropic drugs, multilobar infiltrate, slow capillary refill, and thermal gradient are associated with mortality.