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Pneumococcal Bacteremia in Adults
Author(s) -
FINKELSTEIN MARTIN S.,
PETKUN WILLIAM M.,
FREEDMAN MICHAEL L,
ANTOPOL STEPHEN C.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1983.tb06283.x
Subject(s) - medicine , bacteremia , pediatrics , alcohol abuse , natural history , emergency medicine , antibiotics , psychiatry , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
In order to evaluate the effect of age on the presentation of and response to acute bacterial infection, the hospital charts of 187 adult patients with community‐acquired pneumococcal bacteremia admitted to Bellevue Hospital over a nine‐and‐a‐half year period were reviewed. Compared with younger patients, older patients (aged 65 or older) more frequently had (1) a lower fever in response to the infection, (2) an unclear history of illness, (3) a delay in diagnosis and/or therapy, and (4) a higher risk of dying. On admission, their leukocyte counts and heart rates were similar to those in a group of younger patients, which was composed largely of alcoholic patients and those addicted to intravenous drugs. Response to therapy was also similar in surviving older patients. Lower temperature and an unclear history were features most commonly associated with both delayed diagnosis and higher mortality. When patients with a history of alcohol abuse and those dying shortly after admission (i.e., presenting in a moribund state) were eliminated from the analysis, many of these age‐related differences in presentation and outcome became even more evident.