Evaluation of efficacy of piperacillin/tazobactam for aged patients with community-acquired pneumonia

OBJECTIVE To investigate the efficacy and safety of piperacillin/tazobactam in the treatment of aged patients with community acquired pneumonia.METHODS A total of 96 hospitalized aged patients with community-acquired pneumonia from Oct.2009 to Dec.2010 were randomly divided into the intervention group(48 cases) and the control group(48 cases).The intervention group received piperacillin/tazobactam 4∶1(5.0g) intravenously,twice a day for 7~12 days;the control group received piperacillin/tazobactam 8∶1(6.75g)intravenously,twice or three times a day for 7~12 days.The clinical therapeutic effect was compared at end point of therapy.RESULTS The effective rate was 93.8% in the intervention group and the effective rate was 91.7% in the control group;bacterial clearance rates were 83.3% and 78.3% respectively.There was no significant difference between the two groups(P0.05).CONCLUSION Piperacillin/tazobactam 4∶1 is shown to be the same safe and effective as piperacillin/ tazobactam 8∶1 in the treatment of elderly community-acquired pneumonia in hospitalized patients,and hence is worthy of being recommended in early clinical empirical practice before the result of bacterial culture and drug susceptibility tests are gained.