Impact of Cirrhosis on Pneumonia-Related Outcomes in Hospitalized Older Veterans

Background: Prior research has demonstrated high mortality rates in patients with cirrhosis who contract bacterial infections. The purpose of our study was to explore clinical outcomes such as 90-day mortality, rehospitalization, and intensive care unit (ICU) admission in older veterans with pneumonia and cirrhosis. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia at any Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital over a 10-year period. We included patients 65 years or older who consistently received VA care and who were diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia. There were 103,997 patients who met the inclusion criteria, and 1,246 patients with cirrhosis. We used multilevel regression models to examine the association between cirrhosis and the outcomes of interest after controlling for potential confounders. Results: Cirrhosis was associated with significantly increased odds of 90-day mortality (odds ratio 1.79, 95% confidence interval, 1.57-2.04). There were also significantly increased odds of rehospitalization within 90-days (1.30, 1.16-1.47). No significant association was found with ICU admission (1.00, 0.83-1.19). Conclusions: We found an association between cirrhosis and 90-day mortality and rehospitalization in older patients with pneumonia. We suggest that physicians should carefully monitor patients with cirrhosis who develop pneumonia.