Article Figures & Data
Figures
Tables
Supplemental Table
Supplemental Table 1. Mortality at 1 and 3 Months by Nation, Initial Antibiotic Treatment, and Mortality Risk Predicted by Logistic Regression Models.
Files in this Data Supplement:
- Supplemental data: Table 1 - PDF file, 2 pages, 118KB
The Article in Brief
Antibiotic Treatment and Survival of Nursing Home Patients with Lower Respiratory Infection: A Cross-National Analysis
By Robin Kruse, PhD, and colleagues
Background: Nursing home residents frequently develop lower respiratory tract infections (LRI), such as pneumonia and bronchitis, however, there is little research to support a specific method of treatment. This study assessed the effects of different antibiotic treatments on the survival of elderly nursing home residents with LRI in the United States and the Netherlands, where treatment approaches are quite different.
What this study found: Thirty-nine different antibiotics were used in the United States, compared with 15 in the Netherlands. Only one Dutch patient was hospitalized, compared with almost one-third of U.S. patients. Use of intravenous antibiotics, multiple antibiotics, intravenous fluids and feed tubes were also relatively rare in the Netherlands, compared with the United States. Although patients in the Netherlands were more severely ill, death rates did not differ between the two countries.
Implications
� More aggressive treatment did not show greater benefit for nursing home patients. This suggests that patients can receive simpler treatments that involve less discomfort.