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Growing Antibiotic Resistance in Fatal Cases of Staphylococcal Pneumonia in the Elderly

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Respiratory Contagion

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((NR,volume 905))

Abstract

Older people are often especially susceptible to pneumonia and bacteria may develop resistance to antibiotics quicker in the elderly, whose immune systems gradually diminish. This study analyses, retrospectively, resistance to antibiotics in high-risk elderly patients with fatal pneumonia. Records of all patients aged over 65 who did not survive a bout with pneumonia were gathered from the records of the Department of Pneumology of HELIOS Clinic in Wuppertal, Germany from the period of 2004–2014. Susceptibility testing was executed for the study population, whose pneumonia was triggered by various kinds of bacteria. We detected 936 pneumonia patients of the overall mean age of 68.0 ± 13.6 years, with the following pneumonia types: 461 (49.3 %) community-acquired, 354 (37.8 %) nosocomial-acquired, and 121 (12.9 %) aspiration pneumonia. There were 631 (67.4 %) males and 305 (32.6 %) females there. We identified 672 (71.8 %) patients who had a high risk for pneumonia, especially staphylococcal pneumonia (p < 0.0001). The elderly patients had a higher risk of dying from pneumonia (2.9 odds ratio, 95 % confidence interval 1.8–4.6; p < 0.0001); of the 185 pneumonia-related deaths, 163 (88.1 %) were in the elderly. In those with fatal staphylococcal pneumonia, a high antibiotic resistance rate was found for piperacillin-tazobactam (p = 0.044), cefuroxime (p = 0.026), cefazolin (p = 0.043), levofloxacin (p = 0.018), erythromycin (p = 0.004), and clindamycin (p = 0.025). We conclude that elderly patients with staphylococcal pneumonia show resistance to common antibiotics. However, no significant antibiotic resistance could be ascribed for other types of pneumonia in these patients.

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Conflicts of Interests

The authors declare no competing financial or otherwise interests in relation to this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Sleep Medicine, HELIOS Clinic Wuppertal, Witten/Herdecke University, Heusnerstrasse 40, 42283, Wuppertal, Germany

    Josef Yayan & Kurt Rasche

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  1. Josef Yayan
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  2. Kurt Rasche
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Correspondence to Josef Yayan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Public Higher Medical Professional Schoo , Opole, Poland

    Mieczyslaw Pokorski

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Yayan, J., Rasche, K. (2015). Growing Antibiotic Resistance in Fatal Cases of Staphylococcal Pneumonia in the Elderly. In: Pokorski, M. (eds) Respiratory Contagion. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology(), vol 905. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/5584_2015_184

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