Key result
Patients with more severe pneumonia have a higher risk for long-term mortality, which may be partially explained by older age and debilitating comorbidities.
Why the study?
Is pneumonia a risk factor or a risk marker for long-term mortality?
Is pneumonia a risk factor or a risk marker for long-term mortality?
This editorial discusses whether the higher long-term mortality observed in patients with severe pneumonia is due to the infection itself or underlying comorbidities like diabetes.
Pneumonia is a leading cause of morbidity and short-term mortality (usually measured in the first 30 days after diagnosis) (1–4). However, the potential long-term consequences of pneumonia remain an area of intense evaluation. Several studies have focused on the long-term risk for mortality among patients with pneumonia. In most studies, patients with more severe pneumonia had a higher risk for long-term mortality relative to patients with less severe pneumonia. As older patients with debilitating comorbidities, including diabetes and glucose homeostasis disturbances, are usually classified in the higher-risk categories, this could explain, at least in part, the higher risk observed among patients with more severe pneumonia (3–8).
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Carlos G. Grijalva (2015) conducted an editorial in Pneumonia. Pneumonia was evaluated on Long-term mortality. Patients with more severe pneumonia have a higher risk for long-term mortality, which may be partially explained by older age and debilitating comorbidities.
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