Factors Associated with the Hospitalization of Low‐risk Patients with Community‐acquired Pneumonia in a Cluster‐randomized Trial

Medical evidence suggests that it is safe and less costly to treat low‐risk patients with pneumonia in the outpatient setting. We analyzed the risk factors for hospitalization of low‐risk patients defined by comparing 1,044 outpatients and 845 inpatients from 32 hospital emergency departments. Hospitalization was justified for one‐third of inpatients, while one‐fifth of inpatients had no identifiable risk factors for hospitalization. These findings suggest that while a sizeable proportion of patients defined as low risk have an appropriate indication for hospitalization, an even larger proportion of low‐risk patients could safely be treated in the outpatient setting.