Sunday, December 1 | 9:20 a.m.-9:30 a.m. | S1-SSCH01-3 | Room E451A
The accessibility of chest CT has improved, and this trend has contributed to increased use of the exam to diagnose pneumonia in elderly patients, according to research to be presented Sunday morning.
A team led by Eui Jin Hwang, MD, PhD, of Seoul National University Hospital in South Korea found that between 2009 and 2018, incidence rates of chest CT to diagnose pneumonia increased in elderly individuals -- although the 30-day mortality rate of pneumonia patients remained similar.
"The increased accessibility to chest CT may have contributed to the increased diagnosis of mild pneumonia, which did not require hospitalization," the group wrote in its research abstract. "However, the increased frequency of obtaining chest CT in pneumonia patients may not have improved the prognosis."
Hwang and colleagues conducted a study that included 511,931 individuals between the ages of 60 and 80 who were diagnosed with pneumonia in 2008. They evaluated incidence rates of hospitalized and non-hospitalized pneumonia and pneumonia in patients who underwent chest CT and who did not. They also evaluated the 30-day mortality rate of these patients.
The group reported that the incidence of chest CT imaging in pneumonia patients increased from 12% in 2009 to 29% in 2018, both in hospitalized and nonhospitalized patients. The 30-day mortality rate was stable, however, leading the researchers to note that the increased use of chest CT for this particular population may not be necessary.
Get all of the details by attending this presentation on Sunday morning.
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