THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ANTIBIOTIC USE AGAINST COMMUNITY-ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA IN A TERTIARY HOSPITAL IN SOUTHERN VIETNAM

Abstract

Objectives: Community-acquired pneumonia affects millions of people every year all over the
world, and the antibiotic resistance rate has continued to rise over the last few decades.
Therefore, a study on the effectiveness of antibiotic use against community-acquired
pneumonia is currently essential. We thus conducted such a study at Trung Vuong General
Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from August 2016 to March 2017.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted. The data was analysed using
Microsoft Excel 2010, Minitab 16.0. We used Chi-squared (χ2) and Fisher’s exact tests to
compare two resistance rates. The difference was considered to be statistically significant if p
< 0.05.
Results: Of the cases studied, 78.6% responded well to the first antibiotic treatment; 19.8%
responded well to the second antibiotic treatment; and 1.3% responded well to the third
antibiotic treatment. There remained 0.3%, meaning two patients, whose conditions were not
improved, and they were moved to the ICU to be continuously observed and treated.
Conclusion: The antibiotic combinations, including fluoroquinolone and mainly β-lactam,
were effective as treatment after 72 hours in over 65% of the cases. There are only two
combinations of macrolide and β-lactam that have been effective in 100% of cases as the first
treatment for community-acquired pneumonia: ceftriaxone + azithromycin and ceftriaxone +
azithromycin + vancomycin