Healthcare-associated pneumonia does not accurately identify potentially resistant pathogens: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background. The 2005 American Thoracic Society/Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines introduced a concept of healthcare-associated pneumonia (HCAP) to define patients at higher risk of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, thus requiring broad spectrum therapy. There has been no systematic evaluation of the ability of this definition to identify antibiotic-resistant pathogens.Methods. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies comparing the frequency of resistant pathogens (defined as methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacteriaceae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) in populations with HCAP compared with populations with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Predictive accuracy was evaluated using the area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC). The frequencies of pathogens in each group were pooled using a random effects model.Results. Twenty-four studies were included (n = 22 456). Overall study quality was poor. HCAP was associated with an increased risk of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (odds ratio [OR], 4.72; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.69-6.04) enterobactericeae (OR, 2.11; 95% CI, 1.69-2.63), and P. aeruginosa (OR, 2.75; 95% CI, 2.04-3.72; all P