Relationship of patient age to clinical features and outcome for in-hospital treatment of pneumonia.

Medical records of 166 patients hospitalized for pneumonia were analyzed to determine the relationship between patient age and the clinical features and outcome. Fifty-seven patients were older than 79 years, 55 were 60 to 79 years, and 54 were younger than 60 years. The three groups had similar heart rates, respiratory rates, arterial/alveolar oxygen tension ratios, leukocyte counts, body temperatures, frequency of multilobe pneumonias, and incidence and types of bacterial pathogens. Mortality was 0, 6, and 11% in decades 5 through 7 and rose gradually with age, being 11, 13, and 17% in decades 8 through 10. Hospital stay was 5.7 days in those less than 60 years of age, 9.8 days in those aged 60 to 79, and 11.3 days in those older than 79 years. Although elderly adults are hospitalized frequently for treatment of pneumonia, an individual episode of pneumonia requiring hospitalization in the elderly patient is of equivalent severity to that in younger patients and has similar clinical features and outcome.