S110 Increased mortality of hospitalised community acquired pneumonia in winter 2020/21 compared to 2019/20. (11th November 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Grudzinska, FS; Dosanjh, DP; Thickett, DR; Sapey, E
• Is Part Of: Thorax. Volume 77(2022)Supplement 1
• Page Start: A68
• Page End: A68
• Publication Date: 2022-11-11
• Subjects: Chest -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Thorax; Chest -- Diseases; Periodicals; Periodicals; 617.54
• DOI: 10.1136/thorax-2022-BTSabstracts.116
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0040-6376

Abstract

Abstract : Introduction: Community acquired pneumonia is a leading cause of admission to hospital during the winter months. In the winter of 2020–21 the United Kingdom remained under social distancing measures to limit transmission of COVID-19. These measures should also limit transmission of other respiratory pathogens and therefore reduce admission to hospital. Work to date has demonstrated reduced hospital attendances. We aimed to investigate whether hospitalised cases of non-COVID-19 community acquired pneumonia differed between winter 2019–20 and winter 2020–21. Methods: Community acquired pneumonia hospital admissions were compared between 01/09/2019–31/01/2020 and 01/09/2020–31/01/2021 using Pioneer the Health Data Research Hub in Acute Care. Data were collected to compare demographics, severity, complications, and outcomes. Cases were identified using ICD coding. For the winter 20–21 cohort, all cases had a negative COVID PCR on admission to hospital. Results: Admissions fell by 16% in the 20/21 time period with 2073 admissions in 19/20 and 1757 in 20/21. The median age of cases was similar across both timepoints (74 in 19/20 and 72 in 20/21). Length of stay was similar between the two timepoints. However, mortality significantly increased from 13.5% in 19/20 to 21.6% in 20/21 (p<0.001). Admission to ICU did not change significantly during the time periods (21.2 vs. 24.6%). Conclusion: We demonstrate that changes in social distancing guidance impacts non COVID CAP in keeping with other studies. The increased mortality seen in winter 20/21 is likely multi-factorial but may be related to perceived reduced access to healthcare by patients resulting in delayed treatment. Additionally, we show that intensive care admission was unchanged despite the increased mortality and therefore severity of cases, suggesting that accessing critical care may have been more challenging in the winter of 20/21 than previous years. Further analyses to characterise the difference in cases and understand increase in mortality are underway.