High Alcohol Intake as a Risk and Prognostic Factor for Community-Acquired Pneumonia

Abstract

High alcohol intake is the main risk factor for developing community-acquired pneumonia in middle-aged people. This situation also confers a worse prognosis in these patients, who should be treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics for a longer period.

Alcohol-related admissions to an intensive care unit in Dublin

“…The published evidence shows that patients who consume alcohol excessively experience greater morbidity across a range of outcomes. They are more likely to develop respiratory failure, require ICU admission and to die as a result of a community acquired pneumonia [2]. They are more likely to develop a nosocomial ventilator associated Medical condition due to alcohol 4 1 5…”

“…It has a multi-system effect; excessive consumption contributes to negative outcomes for critically ill patients and is implicated in the pathogenesis of more than 60 diseases [2]- [6]. Additionally, alcohol misuse is associated with a variety of other harms including accidents, trauma, child neglect, relationship difficulties, public safety problems and productivity loss [1].…”

The epidemiology of antibiotic resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae and the clinical relevance of resistance to cephalosporins, macrolides and quinolones

“…As well as age, race and geographical conditions, there are other risk factors for pneumococcal disease including serious underlying diseases, such as HIV, malignant disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, smoking and high alcohol intake [3,6,8,9]. Smoking has recently been identified as a strong independent risk factor for the acquisition of invasive pneumococcal infection among non-elderly immunocompetent adults [6].…”

Impact of bacterial coinfection on clinical outcomes in pneumococcal pneumonia

“…First, alcoholism was an independent risk factor for bacterial coinfection. High alcohol intake has been shown to deteriorate alveolar immunity [31] and to be a poor prognostic factor for CAP [32]. Second, the number of patients with bacterial coinfection who received inappropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy was significantly larger than those without.…”