Skip to main content
PMC home page
American Journal of Public Health logoLink to American Journal of Public Health
. 2001 Jul;91(7):1121–1123. doi: 10.2105/ajph.91.7.1121

Epidemiologic trends in the hospitalization of elderly Medicare patients for pneumonia, 1991-1998.

W B Baine 1, W Yu 1, J P Summe 1
PMCID: PMC1446709  PMID: 11441742

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study determined hospitalization rates of elderly Americans for pneumonia from 1991 through 1998. METHODS: Epidemiologic data were described for 273,143 pneumonia hospitalizations. RESULTS: Annual hospitalizations for aspiration pneumonia increased by 93.5%. Pneumonia hospitalization rates increased steeply with age, especially among men. Black men were at highest risk for aspiration, unspecified, Klebsiella, "other gram-negative," and staphylococcal pneumonia; White men had the highest Haemophilus and pneumococcal pneumonia rates. Among women, Blacks predominated in aspiration and Klebsiella pneumonia; Whites had the highest Haemophilus and bronchopneumonia rates. CONCLUSIONS: An epidemic of hospitalization for aspiration pneumonia smoldered over 8 years. Significant disparities existed in hospitalization risks by race, sex, and principal diagnosis.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (69.6 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baine W. B., Yu W., Summe J. P. The epidemiology of hospitalization of elderly Americans for septicemia or bacteremia in 1991-1998. Application of Medicare claims data. Ann Epidemiol. 2001 Feb;11(2):118–126. doi: 10.1016/s1047-2797(00)00184-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bratzler D. W., Murray C. K., Bumpus L. J., Moore L. L. Community-acquired pneumonia in Oklahoma: characteristics and management of hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries. J Okla State Med Assoc. 1996 Mar;89(3):87–92. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Callahan C. M., Wolinsky F. D. Hospitalization for pneumonia among older adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 1996 Nov;51(6):M276–M282. doi: 10.1093/gerona/51a.6.m276. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Fine M. J., Stone R. A., Singer D. E., Coley C. M., Marrie T. J., Lave J. R., Hough L. J., Obrosky D. S., Schulz R., Ricci E. M. Processes and outcomes of care for patients with community-acquired pneumonia: results from the Pneumonia Patient Outcomes Research Team (PORT) cohort study. Arch Intern Med. 1999 May 10;159(9):970–980. doi: 10.1001/archinte.159.9.970. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hand R., Klemka-Walden L., Inczauskis D. Mortality and length of stay as performance indicators for pneumonia in the elderly. J Investig Med. 1997 Apr;45(4):183–190. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Harrison L. H., Dwyer D. M., Billmann L., Kolczak M. S., Schuchat A. Invasive pneumococcal infection in Baltimore, Md: implications for immunization policy. Arch Intern Med. 2000 Jan 10;160(1):89–94. doi: 10.1001/archinte.160.1.89. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Leroy O., Bosquet C., Vandenbussche C., Coffinier C., Georges H., Guery B., Alfandari S., Thevenin D., Beaucaire G. Community-acquired pneumonia in the intensive care unit: epidemiological and prognosis data in older people. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1999 May;47(5):539–546. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1999.tb02567.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Loeb M., McGeer A., McArthur M., Walter S., Simor A. E. Risk factors for pneumonia and other lower respiratory tract infections in elderly residents of long-term care facilities. Arch Intern Med. 1999 Sep 27;159(17):2058–2064. doi: 10.1001/archinte.159.17.2058. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Meehan T. P., Fine M. J., Krumholz H. M., Scinto J. D., Galusha D. H., Mockalis J. T., Weber G. F., Petrillo M. K., Houck P. M., Fine J. M. Quality of care, process, and outcomes in elderly patients with pneumonia. JAMA. 1997 Dec 17;278(23):2080–2084. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Morgan R. O., Virnig B. A., DeVito C. A., Persily N. A. The Medicare-HMO revolving door--the healthy go in and the sick go out. N Engl J Med. 1997 Jul 17;337(3):169–175. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199707173370306. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Niederman M. S., McCombs J. S., Unger A. N., Kumar A., Popovian R. The cost of treating community-acquired pneumonia. Clin Ther. 1998 Jul-Aug;20(4):820–837. doi: 10.1016/s0149-2918(98)80144-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Roselle G. A., Danko L. H., Kralovic S. M., Simbartl L. A., Hilley J., Tryhus P. A six-year epidemiologic review of pneumonia in Department of Veterans Affairs facilities. Mil Med. 1999 Apr;164(4):293–297. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. White S. R., Hand R., Klemka-Walden L., Inczauskis D. Secondary diagnoses as predictive factors for survival or mortality in Medicare patients with acute pneumonia. Am J Med Qual. 1996 Winter;11(4):186–192. doi: 10.1177/0885713X9601100406. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Whittle J., Lin C. J., Lave J. R., Fine M. J., Delaney K. M., Joyce D. Z., Young W. W., Kapoor W. N. Relationship of provider characteristics to outcomes, process, and costs of care for community-acquired pneumonia. Med Care. 1998 Jul;36(7):977–987. doi: 10.1097/00005650-199807000-00005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from American Journal of Public Health are provided here courtesy of American Public Health Association

RESOURCES