Summary of findings: In this project, we looked at the hospital database of all people admitted to hospital, and found that admissions for pneumonia had almost tripled over the space of 15 years, an alarming increase. By looking at different types of data available in IORD, it became clear that there wasn’t a simple explanation for the increase in pneumonia. It’s not just changing diagnostic codes, it’s not just risk-averse GPs, and it’s not just an ageing population. It appears there is a genuine increase in pneumonia in our region. This has been reported before, but never with this level of detailed investigation.
See Manuscript on BMJ
See also blog on Modernising Medical Microbiology