Community-acquired pneumonia: symptoms and burden of illness at diagnosis among US adults aged 50 years and older

Abstract

Purpose: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in older adults, yet few studies have comprehensively measured the burden of CAP symptoms and their impact from the patient perspective. Our Web-survey used the newly developed CAP burden of illness questionnaire (CAP-BIQ) designed to assess the presence of key symptoms, comorbid conditions affected by CAP, psychosocial impacts, productivity, and CAP-associated physician visits in US adults aged 50 years and older.

Methods: The CAP-BIQ was developed from semi-structured one-on-one interviews and finalized after cognitive debriefings with recently diagnosed CAP patients. The CAP-BIQ was then administered to 500 survey participants with a CAP diagnosis within the past 120 days confirmed by chest imaging recruited from a Web-based panel. Analyses of survey results were weighted for national representativeness, and were compared between relevant age, hospitalization status, and pneumonia-risk subgroups.

Results: The survey participants' mean age was 62.4 years; 45 % were men; and 39.6 % were hospitalized due to CAP. On average, the surveys were completed 56.9 days after pneumonia diagnosis. Nearly all participants reported tiredness, cough, body aches, weakness, shortness of breath, wheezing, and a weak appetite at the time of diagnosis (99.0, 96.8, 96.9, 94.1, 89.1, 85.8, and 78.5 %, respectively). There was generally greater symptom prevalence at diagnosis in younger, nonhospitalized, or high-risk subgroups when compared to their respective older, hospitalized, or low-risk counterparts. Most participants reported at least one cough-related and weakness-related impact on their daily life and activities from CAP. Over three quarters of the respondents (77.4 %) needed assistance from a friend or family member during their bout with pneumonia and a majority of respondents (83.6 %) were satisfied with the care they received from their doctors across the course of their illness.

Conclusions: This study systematically assessed CAP symptoms and their impacts using the CAP-BIQ, a questionnaire with established content validity. At CAP diagnosis, the range of patient-reported symptoms was broader than previous studies have reported. Additionally, the overwhelming need for caregiver assistance demonstrates the burden this illness places on older adults.