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Hospitalization Trends for Pneumonia Among Older Persons
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To the Editor: In their study of trends in hospitalizations for pneumonia among elderly persons in the United States, Dr Fry and colleagues1 discuss the need for reducing preventable comorbid conditions and improving vaccine effectiveness and vaccination programs among the elderly population. However, the authors did not provide the median hospitalization time for treatment of pneumonia for each of the 3 age groups (65-74 years, 75-84 years,  85 years).
Because the cost of hospitalization for pneumonia accounts for 89% to 96% of the total cost of pneumonia,2 this information could be valuable as an indirect index of 2 parameters. The first is the age group that should be the primary target for prevention under the solutions proposed by the authors, with a priority of reducing the economic burden on the health care system; the second is the differential response of the 3 age groups to drug treatment.
Financial Disclosures: None . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Sotirios Zarogiannis, BSc
szarog@med.uth.gr
Department of Physiology
Konstantinos Gourgoulianis, MD, PhD
Department of Respiratory Medicine
University of Thessaly School of Medicine
Larissa, Greece
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