Pneumonia caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae is
one of the leading causes of hospital admission and mortality
in patients older than 65 years (1). Approximately 20%
of patients diagnosed with pneumococcal pneumonia develop
bloodstream infections, this being traditionally associated with
poorer and slower recovery (2,3). Recently, some authors have
not found this association, although their studies have focused
on the general population and not only on elderly patients (4).
The progressive population aging, the increase in the
incidence of pneumococcal pneumonia with age (5), and
improvement in survival rates in the last decade in elderly
patients (6) make it important to explore the characteristics
of the disease in various subgroups of the elderly population
to improve the planning of care.
To date, little information is available regarding the process
of care or host- and pathogen-related factors associated
with bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia (BPP) in elderly
and very elderly patients (≥80 years old). For this reason,
we assessed the impact of age group (65–79 vs ≥80 years
old) on clinical presentation, process of care markers, outcome,
and risk factors associated with 30-day mortality in a
large cohort of elderly patients.