Pneumonia is a common cause of morbidity and mortality amongst older people. It is very essential to establish new strategies to prevent pneumonia because antimicrobial drugs do not prevent the disease. Also, the value of antimicrobial drugs in curing infection becomes limited because of increasingly resistant organisms. “Risk factors for the development of pneumonia in older people can be broadly classified into factors that alter host defenses and factors that increase exposure to bacteria.
These factors combine to adversely affect the capacity to defend against pathogens of the upper and lower respiratory tract (Pennington, 1984). ” Underlying Medical Illnesses: Pneumonia has been associated with disability, and severe combine illnesses especially stroke, heart disease, and cancer. Because the prevalence of these illnesses increases with age, elderly patients are at a higher risk for pneumonia. Diabetes mellitus is associated with interruption dysfunction, diminished checkmates, and phagocytes.
The presence of COOP and Asthma in the lungs also put an elderly patient at risk for pneumonia. Institutionalizing: Residents of chronic care institution are at a higher risk of getting pneumonia because these patients are often older and already have multiple commodities and disabilities. (Married,1990). ” Among nursing home residents, advanced age, male sex, difficulty in swallowing, inability to take oral medications, profound disability, and bedridden state and urinary incontinence are factors that increase elderly patients sis.
Also being on a ventilator while at the hospital puts the patient at higher risk for pneumonia. Misapprehension: Having a weak immune system due to factors such as HIVE/AIDS, organ transplant, chemotherapy for cancer, or long-term steroid use. References: ?Married, TX: Epidemiology of community-acquired pneumonia in the elderly. Semis Respire Infect 5:260-268, 1990 ?Pennington, J. Respiratory tract infections: intrinsic risk factors . American Journal of Medicine. 1984; 76:34-41
