Course of Patients with Pneumonia Hospitalized After Outpatient Treatment: A Two-year Single-center Experience

Objective: This study evaluated the demographic characteristics of patients treated for lower respiratory tract infections.We also examined patients who were initially hospitalized and those who received outpatient treatment before being hospitalized.We investigated the effects of CURB-65 scores at presentation or at the time of transfer to intensive care unit (ICU), use of invasive or non-invasive oxygen supplementation, comorbidities, and repeated hospital admissions.Methods: This single-center, retrospective study was conducted at the Emergency Department of University of Health Sciences Türkiye, Trabzon Kanuni Training and Research Hospital.Using hospital automation records, we analyzed pneumonia cases admitted and hospitalized between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2023.The study included non-pregnant adult patients aged 18 and older, based on specific inclusion and exclusion criteria.Results: A total of 625 patients were included.Of these, 27.8% were hospitalized after a second admission.No significant differences were found between first and second admission groups in terms of age, gender, comorbidities, CURB-65 scores, ICU requirement, or invasive ventilation (p>0.05).However, mortality was significantly higher among patients who required intubation (p