Community-Acquired Pneumonia in the Immunocompromised Patients: An Observational Study from a Single Center, TURKEY

Purpose: Immunocompromised hosts are underrepresented in clinical trials. The goal of the study to search for the unmet needs in the management of CAP in immunocompromised hosts. Patients and Methods: An observational study was conducted with CAP patients documented immunocompromise or those aged over 65 who have at least one chronic visceral disease. We clinically assessed the eligible patients at the time of the presentation with a follow-up assessment on day three of admission. The data were statistically analyzed to assess the impact of variables on mortality. Results: During a 15-month study period, 140 CAP patients were observed. The overall 30-day mortality rate was 17.8%. The mortality rate was significantly higher in patients with sputum cultures positive for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, or two bacteria ( p =0.049). Tachypnea was a stronger predictor of mortality. Failure to achieve a treatment response within three days of treatment identified the population with the worst outcomes. Less than half of such patients survived past one month. Conclusion: Dynamic response assessment emerged as potentially the strongest predictor of outcomes in CAP of susceptible hosts. We propose that immunocompromised CAP patients who fail to respond early to treatment face extremely high rates of mortality, identifying an unmet need. Keywords: community acquired pneumonia, CAP, initial response to treatment, immunocompromised patient, impaired immunity