Acute lower respiratory tract infections: Symptoms, findings and management in Danish general practice

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of the 158 participating general practitioners and 56 practice nurses managing patients with the diagnosis of either pneumonia or acute bronchitis (2017/2018).

	General practitioners (n = 158)	Practice nurses (n = 56)
Gender (female) ^a	103 (65.2)	53 (94.6)
Missing	–	3 (5.4)
Age (years) ^b	46 (39–57)	49 (41–58)
Region ^a
North Denmark Region	68 (43.0)	25 (44.6)
Central Denmark Region	36 (22.8)	14 (25.0)
Region of Southern Denmark	54 (34.2)	17 (30.4)
Practice type ^a
Solo practice	23 (14.6)	15 (26.8)
Partnership practice	120 (75.9)	32 (57.1)
Collaboration practice	12 (7.6)	8 (14.3)
Missing	3 (1.9)	1 (1.8)

^aValues presented as n (%).

^bValues presented as median (25th and 75th percentile).

Table 2. Baseline characteristics of the 1384 patients diagnosed with either pneumonia or acute bronchitis (2017/2018).

	Patients diagnosed with pneumonia (n = 685)	Patients diagnosed with acute bronchitis (n = 699)
Gender (female) ^a	365 (53.3)	405 (57.9)
Missing	1 (0.1)	–
Age (years) ^a
≤ 5 years	83 (12.1)	162 (23.2)
6–30 years	83 (12.1)	99 (14.2)
31–65 years	248 (36.2)	285 (40.8)
>65 years	269 (39.3)	149 (21.3)
Missing	2 (0.3)	4 (0.6)
Weakened or multimorbid ^a	84 (12.3)	26 (3.7)
Duration of symptoms before contact (days) ^b	6 (3–10)	7 (4–14)

^aValues presented as n (%).

^bValues presented as median (25th and 75th percentile).

Table 3. Symptoms, findings, diagnostic tests and antibiotic treatments given to 1384 patients diagnosed with either pneumonia or acute bronchitis (2017/2018).

	Patients diagnosed with pneumonia (n = 685)	Patients diagnosed with acute bronchitis (n = 699)	Chi-square value, p value
Reported symptoms ^a
Cough	643 (93.9)	682 (97.6)	χ2 = 10.8,p = 0.001
Fever (tp.>38.5 °C)	435 (63.5)	239 (34.2)	χ2 = 115.4, p < 0.001
Dyspnoea	265 (38.7)	169 (24.2)	χ2 = 33.4, p < 0.001
Increased purulent sputum	224 (32.7)	148 (21.2)	χ2 = 23.1, p < 0.001
Findings ^a
Abnormal auscultation/chest retractions	460 (67.2)	251 (35.9)	χ2 = 130.6, p < 0.001
Generally unwell	309 (45.1)	110 (15.7)	χ2 = 131.6, p < 0.001
CRP test performed ^a ^–c	569 (83.1)	499 (71.4)
CRP ≤10 mg/L	34 (6.0)	262 (52.5)	χ2 = 160.8, p < 0.001
CRP 11–25 mg/L	56 (9.8)	132 (26.5)	χ2 = 32.1, p < 0.001
CRP 26–49	112 (19.7)	54 (10.8)	χ2 = 23.4, p < 0.001
CRP ≥50 mg/L	360 (63.3)	48 (9.6)	χ2 = 260.1, p < 0.001
Missing CRP value ^d	7 (1.2)	3 (0.6)
Chest X-ray ^a	40 (5.8)	22 (3.1)
Antibiotic prescribed ^a ^,b	635 (92.7)	136 (19.5)
Phenoxymethylpenicillin	412 (64.9)	74 (54.4)
Amoxicillin ± clavulanic acid	93 (14.6)	29 (21.3)
Macrolide	104 (16.4)	28 (20.6)
Other antibiotics	26 (4.1)	5 (3.7)
Missing ^e	2 (0.3)	7 (1.0)

^aValues presented as n (%). The percentage is based on the total number of patients diagnosed with either pneumonitis or acute bronchitis.

^bIn the subgroups the percentage is based on the number of patients with the CRP test performed or antibiotic prescribed.

^cCRP values are stratified in four groups.

^dCRP test performed but CRP-value is missing.

^eInformation about antibiotic prescription is missing.

Table 4. Associations between reported symptoms, findings and CRP values and being diagnosed with pneumonia.

	Crude OR (95% CI)	Adjusted OR ^a (95% CI)
Symptoms ^b
Cough	0.4 (0.2–0.7)	0.3 (0.2–0.7)
Fever (tp.>38.5 °C)	3.3 (2.7–4.2)	4.6 (3.6–5.9)
Dyspnoea	2.0 (1.5–2.5)	1.8 (1.4–2.4)
Increased purulent sputum	1.8 (1.4–2.3)	1.5 (1.1–1.9)
Findings ^b
Abnormal auscultation/chest retractions	3.6 (2.9–4.6)	5.6 (4.3–7.3)
Generally unwell	4.4 (3.4–5.7)	5.5 (4.1–7.3)
CRP
CRP ≤10 mg/L	Ref.	Ref.
CRP 11–25 mg/L	3.1 (1.9–5.0)	3.1 (1.9–5.1)
CRP 26–49 mg/L	16.1 (10.0–26.1)	16.9 (10.3–27.7)
CRP ≥ 50 mg/L	57.8 (36.2–92.2)	57.7 (35.7–93.2)

OR: odds ratio of being diagnosed with pneumonia; CI: confidence interval; Ref: reference.

^aAdjusted for gender, age and patient assessed as weakened/multimorbid.

^bReferences were not having the symptom or the finding (yes/no).