Pneumonia hospitalization on the increase for elderly

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

There has been a 20 per cent increase in the rates of hospitalization for pneumonia among those aged 65 to 84.
The elderly and those who also have a heart or lung condition or diabetes are particularly vulnerable to pneumonia. A team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been looking at trends in hospitalization for pneumonia to see if they are related to co-existing illness trends.

They used data from the National Hospital Discharge Survey and found that hospitalization rates for pneumonia have gone up 20 per cent between1988-1990 and 2000-2002 among the 65-84 age group and are even higher among the over-85s. The proportion of those with pneumonia who also have a co-existing illness (heart or lung disease or diabetes) went up during this period from 66 to 77 per cent. Hence the CDC team concludes that the increase in the rate of chronic illness is at least partly responsible for the increase in hospitalization for pneumonia. They recommend that efforts to prevent pneumonia, by vaccination for instance, should be concentrated on the very old and on those with co-existing illness.

Source
Journal of the American Medical Association 7th December 2005 Volume 294 pages 2712-2719