RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Healthcare reconsultation in working-age adults following hospitalisation for community-acquired pneumonia
JF Clinical Medicine
JO Clin Med
FD Royal College of Physicians
SP 41
OP 46
DO 10.7861/clinmedicine.18-1-41
VO 18
IS 1
A1 Priya Daniel
A1 Thomas Bewick
A1 Tricia M McKeever
A1 Mark Roberts
A1 Deborah Ashton
A1 Daniel Smith
A1 Lenny Latip
A1 Wei Shen Lim
YR 2018
UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/18/1/41.abstract
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.