PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Priya Daniel
AU  - Thomas Bewick
AU  - Tricia M McKeever
AU  - Mark Roberts
AU  - Deborah Ashton
AU  - Daniel Smith
AU  - Lenny Latip
AU  - Wei Shen Lim
TI  - Healthcare reconsultation in working-age adults following hospitalisation for community-acquired pneumonia
AID  - 10.7861/clinmedicine.18-1-41
DP  - 2018 Feb 01
TA  - Clinical Medicine
PG  - 41--46
VI  - 18
IP  - 1
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/18/1/41.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/18/1/41.full
SO  - Clin Med2018 Feb 01; 18
AB  - Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is associated with prolonged symptom persistence during recovery. However, the effect of the residual symptom load on healthcare utilisation is unknown. The aim of this study was to quantify healthcare reconsultation within 28 days of hospital discharge for an index episode of CAP, and explore reasons for these reconsultations. Adults of working age admitted to any of four hospitals in the UK, with a primary diagnosis of CAP, were prospectively studied. Of 108 patients, 71 (65.7%) reconsulted healthcare services within 28 days of discharge; of these, 90.1% consulted their GP. Men were less likely to reconsult than women (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.34, 95% confidence interval 0.13–0.91, p=0.032). Persistence of respiratory symptoms accounted for the majority of these reconsultations. Healthcare utilisation is high in working-age adults after an episode of hospitalised CAP and, in most cases, is due to failure to resolve index symptoms.