• A Julián Jiménez, J González del Castillo, M Martínez Ortiz de Zárate, F J Candel González, P Piñera Salmerón, M S Moya Mir, and en representación del grupo INFURG-SEMES.
• Servicio de Urgencias, Complejo Hospitalario de Toledo, Toledo, 45004 Spain. agustinj@sescam.jccm.es.
• An Sist Sanit Navar. 2013 Sep 1;36(3):387-95.

BackgroundThe aim of this paper is to determine both the prevalence of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in the A & E Department and the most relevant epidemiological changes in the last decade, as well as the profile and management of these patients.MethodsDescriptive cross-sectional analysis at 49 Spanish A & E Departments during 12 months. All patients with infections, respiratory infection or CAP diagnosis were included. All patients attended to in A & E during the study were recorded as well.ResultsCAP has increased its prevalence among patients in the A & E Departments in the past decade (0.85% to 1.35%, p <0.001). Fifty-one per cent were over 70 years old. Sixty-nine point eight per cent had some underlying disease and 17.8% had risk factors. Eleven point seven per cent met sepsis criteria, 4.6% severe sepsis and 3% septic shock. Thirty-seven per cent of patients were directly discharged from the A & E Departments.ConclusionsThe impact and prevalence of CAP in A & E Departments has increased in the last decade. It is the most common cause of sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock, admission to intensive care units and death due to infectious disease.

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