Vol.67 No.1 January 2019
Treatment and prevention of pneumonia in older adults
1)Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Niigata University Medical & Dental Hospital, 1-754 Ichibancho, Asahimachidori, Chuo-ku, Niigata, Japan
2)Department of Respiratory Medicine/Infectious Disease, Niigata City General Hospital
Abstract
Pneumonia has remained the third leading cause of death in Japan since 2011, and the majority of patients who die of pneumonia are over 65 years old. Therefore, appropriate treatment of pneumonia is essential, especially in view of our aging society. The Japanese Respiratory Society (JRS) published a guideline for the management of pneumonia in 2017, with the aim of providing guidance for the management of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP), and nursing and healthcare-associated pneumonia (NHCAP); NHCAP, the third category of pneumonia, was proposed in order to identify patients who are at an increased risk for aspiration and infections by multidrug-resistant pathogens outside the hospital setting. In this review, we discuss the therapeutic approaches for elderly patients with pneumonia according to the new JRS guideline, especially focusing on NHCAP. Furthermore, methods for prevention of pneumonia, including vaccination, oral care, and rehabilitation are also discussed.
Key word
pneumonia, community acquired pneumonia, aspiration pneumonia, guideline
Received
April 27, 2018
Accepted
July 9, 2018
Jpn. J. Chemother. 67 (1): 1-12, 2019