Original Article Evaluation of hospital admission criteria for community acquired-pneumonia patients at a private hospital in UAE Muaed Jamal Alomar a, *, Mohammad Majed Al-Ahmad b a Asst Professor, Clinical Pharmacy Department, Alain University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 222319, United Arab Emirates b Inpatient Pharmacist, Alnoor Hospital, Al Ain P.O. Box 90661, United Arab Emirates article info Article history: Received 9 April 2013 Accepted 23 April 2013 Available online 11 May 2013 Keywords: Admission Community CURB-65 Pneumonia Respiratory abstract Background/Aim: Pneumonia is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. From a pharmacoeconomic point of view, it is better for patients with pneu- monia who do not need hospitalization to be seen as out-patients; as soon as they are cured they can return to their work right away. The aim of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures used to assess CAP patients and assess of the severity of CAP patients and the need for hospitalization. Methods: A retrospective descriptive and comparative study of all patients suffering from CAP. Revision of archives files of the hospital in the period between 1st of December 2007 and 30th November 2012 which includes 403 patients’ files. The evaluation of admission criteria was carried out according to the CURB-65 model for severity assessment. Results: Four hundred and three patients were evaluated (277 males and 129 females) with variations in population age (P ¼ 0.0001; toward lower age "95% CI" using one sample T test), of those only 35 cases (8.6%) were found to have all the criteria available for imple- menting the CURB-65 model; from those 10 (37%) out of 27 low risk patients were admitted and 1 (12.5%) out of 8 high risk patients was treated as an out-patient. The mean respi- ratory rate was low (23 bpm) with a significant difference toward children (P ¼ 0.0001; 95% CI) using one way ANOVA. The mean urea level was high (9.4 mmol/l) with a significant difference toward the elderly (P ¼ 0.0001; 95% CI) using one sample T test. Other factors that are needed for the effective use of the model were also evaluated like FBC, SO 2 , sputum and microbiological investigation. Monotherapy was the choice for (77%) of the cases. Conclusion: This study concludes that CURB-65 is not utilized in the way it should be when dealing with pneumonia patients. It is recommended that hospital administrations take action in the follow up process in order to prevent individual decisions made by physicians. Copyright ª 2013, JPR Solutions; Published by Reed Elsevier India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Pneumonia is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. 1 The prevalence of pneumonia has increased over the years in the United States, 2,3 England, 4 the Netherlands, 5 Denmark, 6 and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 7 From a pharmacoeconomic point of view, it is better for patients with pneumonia who do not need hospitalization * Corresponding author. E-mail address: muayyad74@yahoo.com (M.J. Alomar). Available online at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jopr journal of pharmacy research 7 (2013) 267 e270 0974-6943/$ e see front matter Copyright ª 2013, JPR Solutions; Published by Reed Elsevier India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jopr.2013.04.026