A recently released report using data from the National Hospital Care Survey (NHCS) verifies existing data on the prevalence of pneumonia in hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits and provides the first-ever data collection on diagnostic testing, length of stay (LOS), intensive care unit (ICU) stays, and mortality. The report from the NHCS included only patients with first-listed diagnoses of pneumonia, meaning that pneumonia was the main reason for their hospital visit. Of the pooled data collected, pneumonia hospitalizations accounted for 2.1% of all discharges, with 46.7% of the hospitalizations occurring in patients 65 years and older. Visits to the ED caused by pneumonia were 0.5% of all ED visits, with 46.1% of them occurring in patients under 15 years old.

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