Introduction. Pneumonia remains a common reason for hospitalizing
infants and the elderly worldwide, and streptococcal infection
is often responsible. The aim of this study was to assess the
burden of pneumonia in a large general population.
Methods. All pneumonia-related hospitalizations from 2004 to
2013 in north-east Italy were identified from the hospital records
with a first-listed diagnosis on discharge of bacterial pneumonia,
or a first-listed diagnosis on discharge of meningitis, septicemia
or empyema associated with a secondary diagnosis of bacterial
pneumonia. We identified major comorbidities, calculated agespecific
case-fatality rates (CFR), and estimated the related cost
to the health care system.
Results. Of the 125,722 hospitalizations identified, 96.9% were
cases of pneumonia, 2.4% of septicemia, 0.4% of meningitis, and
0.3% of empyema; 75.3% of hospitalizations involved 65 65-yearolds.
The overall CFR was 12.4%, and it increased with age,
peaking in people over 80 (19.6%).
The mean annual pneumonia-associated hospitalization rate was
204.6 per 100,000 population, and it peaked in 0- to 4-year-old children
(325.6 per 100,000 in males, 288.9 per 100,000 in females),
and adults over 65 (844.9 per 100,000 in males, 605.7 per 100,000
in females).
Hospitalization rates dropped over the years for the 0-4 year-olds,
and rose for people over 80. The estimated overall annual cost of
these pneumonia-related hospitalizations was approximately \u20ac 41
million.
Conclusions. This study shows that the burden on resources for
pneumonia-related hospitalization is an important public health
issue. Prevention remains the most valuable tool for containing pneumonia,
and vaccination strategies can help in the primary prevention
of infection, possibly reducing the number of cases in all age groups