Cost-effectiveness of antibiotic treatment strategies for community-acquired pneumonia: results from a cluster randomized cross-over trial

Table 1 Baseline characteristics

	Beta-lactam monotherapy (N = 656)	Beta-lactam/macrolide (N = 739)	Fluoroquinolone monotherapy (N = 888)
Median age (IQR)	70.6 (60.6–79.4)	70.7 (59.1–80.3)	71.0 (59.6–79.4)
Male gender	381 (58.1%)	431 (58.3%)	505 (56.9%)
Elderly home	32 / 644 (5.0%)	38 / 727 (5.2%)	41 / 878 (4.7%)
Hospitalization past 12 months	271 / 653 (41.5%)	298 / 722 (41.3%)	351 / 881 (39.8%)
Median number of comorbidities (IQR) ^a	1 (0–2)	1 (0–2)	1 (1–2)
Immunocompromised ^b	147 (22.4%)	173 (23.4%)	213 (24.0%)
Median CURB-65 score (IQR) ^d	1 (1–2)	1 (1–2)	1 (1–2)
Day-28 questionnaire received	276 (42.1%)	253 (34.2%)	376 (42.3%)
Reports paid work	51 / 246 (20.7%)	45 / 233 (19.3%)	78 / 342 (22.8%)
Reports volunteer work	23 / 245 (9.4%)	32 / 234 (13.7%)	35 / 340 (10.3%)

Data are reported as N (%) unless otherwise indicated. IQR: inter quartile range
^a Reported comorbidities include chronic cardiovascular disease, heart failure, cerebrovascular disease, asthma, COPD, other chronic pulmonary disease, HIV/AIDS, diabetes mellitus, haematological malignancies^c, solid organ malignancies^c, chronic renal failure requiring dialysis, nephrotic syndrome, organ or bone marrow transplantation, alcoholism, chronic liver disease and functional or anatomic asplenia
^bPatients were categorized as immunocompromised if any of the following conditions applied: HIV/AIDS, haematological malignancies#, solid organ malignancies^c, chronic renal failure requiring dialysis, nephrotic syndrome, organ or bone marrow transplantation, or receipt of immunosuppressive therapy (for corticosteroids this required at least 0.5 mg/kg/day prednisolone or equivalent dosage for a minimum of 14 days)
^c Having received or been eligible for chemotherapy or radiotherapy in the past 5 years
^d The CURB-65 score is calculated by assigning 1 point each for confusion, uraemia (blood urea nitrogen ≥20 mg per deci- liter), high respiratory rate (≥30 breaths per minute), low systolic blood pressure (<90 mm Hg) or diastolic blood pres- sure (≤60 mm Hg), and an age of 65 years or older, with a higher score indicating a higher risk of death within 30 days

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