Study patients
All adult patients (≥18 years) admitted for CAP and included in the
clinical trial were included. Pneumonia was defined as a pulmonary
infiltrate on chest X-ray not known to be old, and with symptoms
indicative of pneumonia, such as cough, dyspnea, fever, and / or pleural
pain. All patients previously excluded from the clinical trial due to
infection by the human immunodeficiency virus were excluded, as well as
the immunosuppressed (those with organ transplants or with splenectomy,
those treated with 10mg/day of prednisone or equivalent for more than 30
days or with other immunosuppressive agents, neutropenic patients),
those hospitalized in the previous 14 days, patients who received prior
antibiotic treatment in the previous 30 days and institutionalized
patients.
The study also excluded cases of pneumonia caused by infrequent agents
(eg P. aerouginosa, S. aureus), infectious processes that required
prolonged treatment with antibiotics (i.e. bacterial endocarditis,
abscesses), pneumonia with pleural effusion that required drainage,
those who died or who were admitted to the ICU before randomization and
those who did not give their informed consent.