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Hypocapnia and hypercapnia are predictors for icu admission and mortality in hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia
Chest, 06/12/2012
Laserna E et al. – In hospitalized community–acquired pneumonia patients both hypocapnia and hypercapnia were associated with increased need for ICU admission and higher 30 day mortality. These findings persisted after excluding community–acquired pneumonia patients with COPD. Therefore, PaCO2 should be considered for inclusion in future severity stratification criteria to appropriate identified patients that will require higher level of care and are at risk of increased mortality.