Pneumonia Misdiagnosis on Readmission Frequent, Costly

Pneumonia is frequently misdiagnosed upon readmission, leading to overuse of antibiotics and higher healthcare costs, according to two companion studies.

Patients were misdiagnosed with pneumonia at dramatically high rates when they were readmitted to the hospital shortly after a previous hospitalization for the illness, according to the research presented at the Infectious Diseases Society of America annual meeting in Vancouver, BC.

Researchers examined the medical records of 127 patients who were diagnosed with pneumonia and readmitted within 30 days of a hospital discharge. Of this group, they found that 92 were misdiagnosed with healthcare-associated pneumonia (a newly recognized form of pneumonia in patients who have had recent close contact with a healthcare system.)

Blacks were more than twice as likely as whites to be misdiagnosed with pneumonia, and smokers and those with lung disease were also more likely to be misdiagnosed.

The misdiagnoses are bad for patients and hospitals. They lead to inappropriate use of a broad spectrum of antibiotics as therapy for healthcare-associated pneumonia, and in the future may not be paid for by CMS under the Hospital-Acquired Conditions initiative, according to researchers.

A call for vigilance

Researchers pointed out several possible reasons for the misdiagnosis, including pre-existing lung disease and baseline chest radiographic abnormalities.

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