Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35883250›Full record

ArticleClinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America2023

Ultra-Short-Course Antibiotics for Suspected Pneumonia With Preserved Oxygenation.

Michael Klompas, Caroline McKenna, Aileen Ochoa, Wenjing Ji, Tom Chen, Jessica Young, Chanu Rhee, Prevention Epicenters Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 32% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Association Between the Sequence of β-Lactam and Vancomycin Administration and Mortality in Patients With Suspected Sepsis.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Michael KlompasDepartment of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-8641-4498
Caroline McKennaDepartment of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Aileen OchoaDepartment of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Wenjing JiDepartment of Pharmacy Administration and Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
Tom ChenDepartment of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Jessica YoungDepartment of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Chanu RheeDepartment of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Prevention Epicenters Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Harvard University · USBrigham and Women's Hospital · USXi'an Jiaotong University · CN

Funding

NCEZID CDC HHS U54 CK000484
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSuspected pneumonia is the most common indication for antibiotics in hospitalized patients but is frequently overdiagnosed. We explored whether normal oxygenation could be used as an indicator to support early discontinuation of antibiotics.

methodsWe retrospectively identified all patients started on antibiotics for pneumonia in 4 hospitals with oxygen saturations ≥95% on ambient air, May 2017-February 2021. We propensity-matched patients treated 1-2 days vs 5-8 days and compared hospital mortality and time to discharge using subdistribution hazard ratios (SHRs). Secondary outcomes included readmissions, 30-day mortality, Clostridioides difficile infections, hospital-free days, and antibiotic-free days.

resultsAmong 39 752 patients treated for possible pneumonia, 10 012 had median oxygen saturations ≥95% without supplemental oxygen. Of these, 2871 were treated 1-2 days and 2891 for 5-8 days; 4478 patients were propensity-matched. Patients treated 1-2 vs 5-8 days had similar hospital mortality (2.1% vs 2.8%; SHR, 0.75 [95% confidence interval {CI}, .51-1.09]) but less time to discharge (6.1 vs 6.6 days; SHR, 1.13 [95% CI, 1.07-1.19]) and more 30-day hospital-free days (23.1 vs 22.7; mean difference, 0.44 [95% CI, .09-.78]). There were no significant differences in 30-day readmissions (16.0% vs 15.8%; odds ratio [OR], 1.01 [95% CI, .86-1.19]), 30-day mortality (4.6% vs 5.1%; OR, 0.91 [95% CI, .69-1.19]), or 90-day C. difficile infections (1.3% vs 0.8%; OR, 1.67 [95% CI, .94-2.99]).

conclusionsOne-quarter of hospitalized patients treated for pneumonia had oxygenation saturations ≥95% on ambient air. Outcomes were similar with 1-2 vs 5-8 days of antibiotics. Normal oxygenation levels may help identify candidates for early antibiotic discontinuation. Prospective trials are warranted.

Indexed as

Clostridioides difficilePneumoniaAnti-Bacterial AgentsHumansOxygenProspective StudiesRetrospective StudiesAnti-Bacterial AgentsOxygenantibiotic stewardshipoxygenationpneumoniaquality improvement

Identifiers

PMID35883250
PMCPMC10498383
OpenAlexW4288033571

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.