Association between sputum culture results and duration of hospitalization in patients with community-acquired pneumonia: A cross-sectional study

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Hospital between October 2022 and November 2023 were evaluated in this cross-sectional study.Pneumonia was diagnosed based on a combination of clinical and radiological ABSTRACT INTRODUCTIONCommunity-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a major cause of hospital admissions, workforce loss, and mortality globally.In most patients diagnosed with CAP, the causative pathogen cannot be identified, even with extensive microbiological testing in laboratory settings.The aim of our study was to investigate the relationship between the isolated pathogens from sputum cultures and the duration of hospitalization in patients with CAP.METHODS This cross-sectional study included 298 patients with CAP, mean age of 71.3 ± 14.1 years, 67.1% male, hospitalized at Düzce University Hospital between October 2022 and November 2023.Inclusion criteria were age >18 years and a diagnosis of CAP confirmed by clinical and radiological findings.The relationship between isolated pathogens (exposure) and duration of hospitalization (outcome) was analyzed using Mann-Whitney U, chi-squared tests, and nonparametric linear regression.RESULTS Sputum culture samples were obtained from 73.8% of the patients, and 45.5% of these yielded positive results.The most common pathogens identified were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (21%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (17%), Escherichia coli (9%), and Staphylococcus aureus (6%).Hospitalization was significantly longer in patients with positive cultures, those with cardiovascular disease or malignancy, and those with polymicrobial growth (p<0.05);however, no significant difference was found based on the specific cultured organism after adjustment for confounders.CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that the duration of hospitalization is longer among patients with multiple isolated pathogens compared to those with a single one.