observational longitudinal study of symptom burden and time for recovery from community-acquired pneumonia reported by older adults surveyed nationwide using the cap burden of illness questionnaire

Kathleen W Wyrwich,1 Holly Yu,2 Reiko Sato,2 John H Powers31Evidera, Inc., Bethesda, MD, USA; 2Pfizer Inc., Collegeville, PA, USA; 3George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, USABackground: Millions of older adults who develop community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) each year survive, but there is a large knowledge gap on the burden of CAP and the recovery process in survivors from the patient perspective.Methods: The newly developed CAP Burden of Illness Questionnaire was administered through a Web survey to a nationwide sample of US adults aged ≥50 years who were recently diagnosed with CAP. Survey respondents with unresolved symptoms or other CAP-related health problems completed a second survey 30 days later; a third survey was completed another 30 days later by respondents with unresolved symptoms or problems. Nationally representative results describing the average time to recovery of symptoms and other CAP-related problems were achieved using post-stratification weights.Results: Five hundred participants completed the initial survey. The time to resolution for the CAP symptoms of weakness, shortness of breath, and tiredness exceeded 3 weeks on average. There was an average of 13 days of absenteeism, and 3 weeks (mean =21 days) before achieving full work/activity productivity after CAP. For participants with health conditions that worsened from pneumonia, chronic emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease took the longest to return to baseline (mean =60 and 52.4 days, respectively).Conclusion: The results from this study demonstrate that older adults surviving a CAP episode experience a significant multi-symptom illness with long recovery periods to achieve pre-CAP health and productivity. These findings highlight the need for further research on effective clinician–patient communication, the need for patient-centered outcomes in clinical trials for CAP therapeutics, adequate home care during the recovery process, and the pursuit of CAP prevention strategies.Keywords: burden of illness, community-acquired pneumonia, symptoms, patient-reported outcomes, longitudinal study, health-related quality of life