Clinical comparative study of sulbactam/ampicillin and imipenem/cilastatin in elderly patients with community-acquired pneumonia

Objective To evaluate the clinical usefulness of sulbactam/ampicillin therapy for community-acquired pneumonia in the elderly. Methodology A randomized prospective clinical study was conducted in the elderly patients with moderatetosevere community- acquired bacterial pneumonia. Results Overall clinical efficacy of sulbactam/ ampicillin therapy (6 g/ day) in these patients (efficacy rate: 91.4%) was comparable to that of imipenem/ cilastatin therapy (1 g/ day; efficacy rate: 87.5%), when each therapy was administered intravenously twice daily for 7-14 days. With regard to clinical efficacy based on disease severity, bacteriological efficacy, improvement of chest X- ray findings and adverse reactions, the two therapies were comparable. Conclusion These results suggest that sulbactam/ ampicillin therapy has excellent efficacy and tolerability and that it may be highly effective, even in severe cases of pneumonia. This regimen may thus serve as firstline treatment for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia in elderly patients.