Table 3.
Antibiotic prescribing strategy and hospital admission or death within 30 days
| Antibiotic prescribing* | No (%) with no hospital admission or death | No (%) with hospital admission or death | Univariate risk ratio (95% CI) | P value | Risk ratio controlling for clustering and covariates (95% CI) | P value | Multivariable risk ratio controlling for clustering and significant covariates† (95% CI) | P value | Multivariable risk ratio adjusted using stratified propensity score (95% CI) | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None | 7306/28 583 (25.6) | 26/196 (13.3) | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | ||||
| Immediate | 17472/28 583 (61.1) | 156/196 (79.6) | 2.35 (1.59 to 3.49) | <0.01 | 1.47 (0.80 to 2.72) | 0.22 | 1.65 (0.97 to 2.80) | 0.06 | 1.06 (0.63 to 1.81) | 0.84 |
| Delayed | 3805/28 583 (13.3) | 14/196 (7.1) | 0.99 (0.53 to 1.85) | 0.98 | 1.02 (0.51 to 2.05) | 0.95 | 0.97 (0.49 to 1.92) | 0.93 | 0.81 (0.41 to 1.64) | 0.61 |
*Excluding those with pneumonia judged to be present clinically at the index consultation, those admitted on the day of index consultation, and those with cancer related admissions.
†Significant covariates: age ≥60 years, sex, any comorbidity, shortness of breath, chest pain, absence of coryza, respiratory rate >24/min, low blood pressure, severity score >4, pulse >100/min, oxygen saturation <95%, and temperature >37.8°C.