Browse the corpus

Community-acquired pneumonia. Community-acquired pneumonia is a major global health challenge that disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, including older people, immunocompromised people, those with chronic conditions, and young children. Once considered solely an acute illness, community-acquired pneumonia is now recognised as a disease with long-term complications, including cardiovascular events, respiratory impairment, and cognitive decline. Advances, such as nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) and the broader availability of point-of-care lung ultrasound, allow for rapid pathogen detection and personalised treatment. However, substantial uncertainties remain regarding the role of NAATs, lung ultrasounds, and serum biomarkers in clinical practice. Antibiotics are the cornerstone of community-acquired pneumonia treatment, but the roles of adjunctive therapies, including corticosteroids and immunomodulators, remain incompletely defined. Comprehensive community-acquired pneumonia management emphasises personalised treatment, rehabilitation after the acute episode, routine cardiovascular screening, and strengthening preventive measures, such as vaccination. As precision medicine advances, integrating diagnostics and tailored therapies will improve outcomes and reduce the global burden of community-acquired pneumonia.

Community-acquired pneumonia. Community-acquired pneumonia is not usually considered a high-priority problem by the public, although it is responsible for substantial mortality, with a third of patients dying within 1 year after being discharged from hospital for pneumoniae. Although up to 18% of patients with community-acquired pneumonia who were hospitalised (admitted to hospital and treated there) have at least one risk factor for immunosuppression worldwide, strong evidence on community-acquired pneumonia management in this population is scarce. Several features of clinical management for community-acquired pneumonia should be addressed to reduce mortality, morbidity, and complications related to community-acquired pneumonia in patients who are immunocompetent and patients who are immunocompromised. These features include rapid diagnosis, microbiological investigation, prevention and management of complications (eg, respiratory failure, sepsis, and multiorgan failure), empirical antibiotic therapy in accordance with patient's risk factors and local microbiological epidemiology, individualised antibiotic therapy according to microbiological data, appropriate outcomes for therapeutic switch from parenteral to oral antibiotics, discharge planning, and long-term follow-up. This Seminar offers an updated view on community-acquired pneumonia in adults, with suggestions for clinical and translational research.