Aspiration pneumonia is associated with a higher in-hospital mortality rate than community-acquired pneumonia in patients with COPD, according to study results.

Yamauchi and colleagues analyzed data of 87,330 patients with COPD aged 40 years and older admitted for either aspiration pneumonia (AsP) (n = 16,388) or community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) (n = 70,942) in 1,165 hospitals in Japan between July 2010 and May 2013.

The researchers noted more patients with AsP (22.7%) died in the hospital than did patients with CAP (12%).

Patients with AsP, on average, had a length of stay in hospital of 21 days compared with 15 days for patients with CAP (P < .001).

More than half (51.8%) of the patients with AsP who required mechanical ventilation died (n = 1,951) compared with 41.8% of patients with CAP (n = 7,339) (P < .001).