Impact of pre-hospital antibiotic use on community-acquired pneumonia

AbstractInformation on the influence of pre-hospital antibiotic treatment on the causative organisms, clinical features and outcomes of patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains scarce. We performed an observational study of a prospective cohort of non-immunosuppressed adults hospitalized with CAP between 2003 and 2012. Patients were divided into two groups: those who had received pre-hospital antibiotic treatment for the same episode of CAP and those who had not. A propensity score was used to match patients. Of 2179 consecutive episodes of CAP, 376 (17.3%) occurred in patients who had received pre-hospital antibiotic treatment. After propensity score matching, Legionella pneumophila was more frequently identified in patients with pre-hospital antibiotic treatment, while Streptococcus pneumoniae was less common (p <0.001 and p