Efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in reducing readmission in elderly patients with community-acquired pneumonia.

Elderly patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) often exhibit non-respiratory symptoms, which can lead to readmission, increased mortality risk. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments for elderly CAP patients have been shown to reduce rehospitalization rates. This work aims to evaluate the efficacy of TCM treatment in reducing the rehospitalization rate of elderly patients with CAP post-discharge. The clinical efficacy of TCM formulae, including Bufei Jianpi Huatan formula (BJHF) and Yiqi Yangyin Qingfei formula (YYQF), was evaluated in a randomized controlled trial involving 292 patients across seven centers. Within one week after discharge, elderly patients with community-acquired pneumonia were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group. A total of 292 elderly CAP subjects were included in this study. After 2 months of treatment and 6 months of follow-up, 33 cases were lost (13 in the experimental group and 20 in the control group). Consequently, 259 patients (133 in the experimental group and 126 in the control group) were subjected to statistical analysis. No significant differences were observed in gender, ethnicity, marital status, or other baseline characteristics between the two groups. The BJHF and YYQF treatments significantly reduced the rehospitalization rates for pneumonia in elderly patients with CAP (P = 0.027; 0.035; 0.041). However, there was no significant difference in the all-cause rehospitalization rates between the two groups at 1 month, 2 months of treatment, 3 months, and 6 months of follow-up. These formulas also significantly reduced total score of CAP-PRO and it's scores in the disease symptom domain, treatment satisfaction domain. Additionally, they lowered total score of CAP-CRO and it's scores in the disease symptoms domain, overall disease improvement evaluation score. The treatment with BJHF and YYQF can reduce the pneumonia readmission rate in elderly patients with CAP, improve their quality of life. [Display omitted]