To assess the association between inclusion of a macrolide in a β-lactam—based empirical antibiotic regimen and mortality among patients with bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia, 10 years of data from a database were analyzed. The total available set of putative prognostic factors was subjected to stepwise logistic regression, with in-hospital death as the dependent variable. Of the 409 patients analyzed, 238 (58%) received a β-lactam plus a macrolide and 171 (42%) received a β-lactam without a macrolide. Multivariate analysis revealed 4 variables to be independently associated with death:...

To assess the association between inclusion of a macrolide in a β-lactam—based empirical antibiotic regimen and mortality among patients with bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia, 10 years of data from a database were analyzed. The total available set of putative prognostic factors was subjected to stepwise logistic regression, with in-hospital death as the dependent variable. Of the 409 patients analyzed, 238 (58%) received a β-lactam plus a macrolide and 171 (42%) received a β-lactam without a macrolide. Multivariate analysis revealed 4 variables to be independently associated with death: shock (P <.0001), age of ≥65 years (P =.02), infections with pathogens that have resistance to both penicillin and erythromycin (P =.04), and no inclusion of a macrolide in the initial antibiotic regimen (P =.03). For patients with bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia, not adding a macrolide to a β-lactam—based initial antibiotic regimen is an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality. However, only a randomized study can definitively determine whether this association is due to a real effect of macrolides.