Previous hospital care as a risk factor for pneumonia. Implications for immunization with pneumococcal vaccine
D. S. Fedson and J. A. Baldwin
In the Oxford Record Linkage Study population in 1970, seven hundred
ninety-three persons were hospitalized for or died as a result of
pneumonia. Thirty-six percent who survived and 49% who died had been
discharged from hospital within the previous five years. For the period
1963 through 1970, cohort analysis determined the probability of subsequent
readmission and/or death caused by pneumonia within the next five years for
patients discharged with any condition and with high-risk conditions only.
From this analysis, it was estimated that pneumococcal immunization of
relatively few discharged patients would prevent each subsequent
readmission and death from pneumococcal pneumonia. These results suggest
that, in addition to age and underlying medical condition, patterns of
previous hospital care can be used to identify many persons at increased
risk of developing pneumonia. If current patterns of previous hospital care
are similar to those found in Oxfordshire, physicians should consider
giving pneumococcal vaccine to patients who are discharged from hospitals.
