This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related articles  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Pneumonia  • Bacterial Infections  • Aging/ Geriatrics  • Alert me on articles by topic

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

In Reply: Mr Zarogiannis and Dr Gourgoulianis suggest that differences in health care costs (approximated by duration of hospitalization) between the 3 elderly age groups might assist with targeting intervention programs. Duration of hospitalization for pneumonia did not vary significantly among the 3 age groups during 2000-2002 (Table). By contrast, the number of days spent in the hospital for first-listed pneumonia hospitalizations decreased from about 10 days during 1988-1990 to about 6 days during 2000-2002. Thus, while there is evidence of shorter hospitalizations in 2000-2002 vs 1988-1990, perhaps due to changes in medical practice, we do not see any indication in these data that differences in hospitalization length of stay among elderly US residents might warrant targeting of a specific age group for a particular intervention. Other factors should be considered, such as the effectiveness of treatment, the duration of effectiveness, and the effects of treatment on other . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Alicia M. Fry, MD, MPH
agf1@cdc.gov

David K. Shay, MD, MPH
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Ga

RELATED ARTICLES

Hospitalization Trends for Pneumonia Among Older Persons
Sotirios Zarogiannis and Konstantinos Gourgoulianis
JAMA. 2006;295(18):2137.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Hospitalization Trends for Pneumonia Among Older Persons
Jenny T. van der Steen and Margaret R. Helton
JAMA. 2006;295(18):2137-2138.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Trends in Hospitalizations for Pneumonia Among Persons Aged 65 Years or Older in the United States, 1988-2002
Alicia M. Fry, David K. Shay, Robert C. Holman, Aaron T. Curns, and Larry J. Anderson
JAMA. 2005;294(21):2712-2719.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

The Pharmacodynamics of L-Arginine
Boger
J. Nutr. 2007;137:1650S-1655S.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT