Patient-Reported Consequences of Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Community-acquired pneumonia: Trends in and research on drug resistance and advances in new antibiotics

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) refers to infectious inflammation of the lung parenchyma developing outside of a hospital. CAP has quite a high mortality and morbidity rate worldwide, and especially among elderly patients. The increasing burden of CAP is due to antibiotic resistance, the growth of the elderly population, and underlying comorbidities. Streptococcus pneumoniae remains the most common bacterial pathogen causing CAP, but multi-drug resistance bacteria and potential pathogens have increased the difficulty and challenges of managing CAP. Although preventive measures, diagnostic techniques, and treatment strategies are constantly advancing and improving, the susceptibility of multi-drug resistant pathogens, such as including Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, has not improved significantly in recent decades, thus highlighting the importance and necessity of developing new antibiotics for the treatment of CAP. New antimicrobials have been approved over the past few years that will expand treatment options for CAP, and especially for patients with potential comorbidities. This situation also offers the chance to reduce the abuse of antibiotics, their toxicities, and their adverse reactions and to provide effective personalized antibiotic treatment.

Acute Brain Ischemia, Infarction and Hemorrhage in Subjects Dying with or Without Autopsy-Proven Acute Pneumonia

Stroke is one of the most serious complications of Covid-19 disease but it is still unclear whether stroke is more common with Covid-19 pneumonia as compared to non-Covid-19 pneumonia. We investigated the concurrence rate of autopsy-confirmed acute brain ischemia, acute brain infarction and acute brain hemorrhage with autopsy-proven acute non-Covid pneumonia in consecutive autopsies in the Arizona Study of Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders (AZSAND), a longitudinal clinicopathological study of normal aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Of 691 subjects with a mean age of 83.4 years, acute pneumonia was histopathologically diagnosed in 343 (49.6%); the concurrence rates for histopathologically-confirmed acute ischemia, acute infarction or subacute infarction was 14% and did not differ between pneumonia and non-pneumonia groups while the rates of acute brain hemorrhage were 1.4% and 2.0% of those with or without acute pneumonia, respectively. In comparison, in reviews of Covid-19 publications, reported clinically-determined rates of acute brain infarction range from 0.5% to 20% while rates of acute brain hemorrhage range from 0.13% to 2%. In reviews of Covid-19 autopsy studies, concurrence rates for both acute brain infarction and acute brain hemorrhage average about 10%. Covid-19 pneumonia and non-Covid-19 pneumonia may have similar risks tor concurrent acute brain infarction and acute brain hemorrhage when pneumonia is severe enough to cause death. Additionally, acute brain ischemia, infarction or hemorrhage may not be more common in subjects dying of acute pneumonia than in subjects dying without acute pneumonia.

Increased Risk of Autopsy-Proven Pneumonia with Sex, Season and Neurodegenerative Disease

There has been a markedly renewed interest in factors associated with pneumonia, a leading cause of death worldwide, due to its frequent concurrence with pandemics of influenza and Covid-19 disease. Reported predisposing factors to both bacterial pneumonia and pandemic viral lower respiratory infections are wintertime occurrence, older age, obesity, pre-existing cardiopulmonary conditions and diabetes. Also implicated are age-related neurodegenerative diseases that cause parkinsonism and dementia. We investigated the prevalence of autopsy-proven pneumonia in the Arizona Study of Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders (AZSAND), a longitudinal clinicopathological study, between the years 2006 and 2019 and before the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Of 691 subjects dying at advanced ages (mean 83.4), pneumonia was diagnosed postmortem in 343 (49.6%). There were 185 subjects without dementia or parkinsonism while clinicopathological diagnoses for the other subjects included 319 with Alzheimer's disease dementia, 127 with idiopathic Parkinson's disease, 72 with dementia with Lewy bodies, 49 with progressive supranuclear palsy and 78 with vascular dementia. Subjects with one or more of these neurodegenerative diseases all had higher pneumonia rates, ranging between 50 and 61%, as compared to those without dementia or parkinsonism (40%). In multivariable logistic regression models, male sex and a non-summer death both had independent contributions (ORs of 1.67 and 1.53) towards the presence of pneumonia at autopsy while the absence of parkinsonism or dementia was a significant negative predictor of pneumonia (OR 0.54). Male sex, dementia and parkinsonism may also be risk factors for Covid-19 pneumonia. The apolipoprotein E4 allele, as well as obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, hypertension, congestive heart failure, cardiomegaly and cigarette smoking history, were not significantly associated with pneumonia, in contradistinction to what has been reported for Covid-19 disease.

Community-Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia-Changing Epidemiology, Resistance Patterns, and Newer Antibiotics: Spotlight on Delafloxacin

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality both in the USA and globally. As the burden of CAP continues to increase due to several factors, the advances in its diagnosis, prevention, and treatment have taken on even greater interest and importance. The majority of CAP patients are treated empirically, and selection of appropriate antibiotic treatment is increasingly difficult because the epidemiology of CAP is changing, in part due to antimicrobial resistance, and the causative CAP pathogens differ between countries and regions. There is also an increasing prevalence of chronic co-morbid diseases among CAP patients. Treatment of CAP has become challenging because of these factors along with the varying safety profiles and efficacy of well-established antibiotics, as well as limited new therapeutic options. Recently, however, new antibiotics have been approved, which will expand the treatment options for CAP, particularly in those patients with underlying complications. Recently approved delafloxacin, an anionic fluoroquinolone, has a unique structure and distinct chemical characteristics; it demonstrated non-inferiority to moxifloxacin in a phase III clinical trial, but was shown to be superior to moxifloxacin at early clinical response in CAP patients who also have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma as a co-morbidity, and in CAP patients who may have severe illness. Delafloxacin could offer an additional therapy against resistant isolates and among these difficult-to-treat patients. This review summarizes the development, latest research, and safety profile of the new antibiotic delafloxacin, and its potential future role in the treatment of CAP.

Influence of Pneumonia on the Survival of Patients with COPD

Background: Pneumonia is a frequent infection. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can present with comorbidities, including pneumonia. It is known that COPD worsens the evolution of pneumonia, but few studies describe the impact of pneumonia on COPD evolution. This study analyzes the influence of pneumonia on the survival of COPD patients. Methods: Observational study of a cohort of 273 patients with COPD who attended spirometry in 2011, with a prospective follow-up of six years. Patients were divided into two groups according to their acquisition of pneumonia during follow-up. The difference in survival between the two groups was analyzed. Results: Survival was lower in the group with pneumonia compared with that without pneumonia (p = 0.000), both globally and after stratification by COPD phenotype. Pneumonia (Hazard Ratio -HR- 2.65; 95% Confidence Interval -CI- 1.57–4.48), advanced age (HR 1.08; 95% CI 1.03–1.09), and high Charlson index (HR 1.31; 95% CI 1.17–1.47) were identified as risk factors independently associated with mortality, while a high body mass index (HR 0.92; 95% CI 0.87–0.96) was identified as a protective factor. Conclusions: Pneumonia is associated with worse prognosis in COPD patients. It is important to take into account this comorbidity for a comprehensive care of these patients.

A Phase 3 Study to Compare Delafloxacin With Moxifloxacin for the Treatment of Adults With Community-Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia (DEFINE-CABP)

BACKGROUND

The clinical and economic burden of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP) is significant and is anticipated to increase as the population ages and pathogens become more resistant. Delafloxacin is a fluoroquinolone antibiotic approved in the United States for the treatment of adults with acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections. Delafloxacin's shape and charge profile uniquely impact its spectrum of activity and side effect profile. This phase 3 study compared the efficacy and safety of delafloxacin with moxifloxacin for the treatment of CABP.

METHODS

A randomized, double-blind, comparator-controlled, multicenter, global phase 3 study compared the efficacy and safety of delafloxacin 300 mg twice daily or moxifloxacin 400 mg once daily in adults with CABP. The primary end point was early clinical response (ECR), defined as improvement at 96 (±24) hours after the first dose of study drug. Clinical response at test of cure (TOC) and microbiologic response were also assessed.

RESULTS

In the intent-to-treat analysis population (ITT), ECR rates were 88.9% in the delafloxacin group and 89.0% in the moxifloxacin group. Noninferiority of delafloxacin compared with moxifloxacin was demonstrated. At TOC in the ITT population, the success rates were similar between groups. Treatment-emergent adverse events that were considered at least possibly related to the study drug occurred in 65 subjects (15.2%) in the delafloxacin group and 54 (12.6%) in the moxifloxacin group.

CONCLUSIONS

Intravenous/oral delafloxacin monotherapy is effective and well tolerated in the treatment of adults with CABP, providing coverage for Gram-positive, Gram-negative, and atypical pathogens.

CLINICALTRIALSGOV IDENTIFIER

NCT03534622.