Intent-to-treat analysis of demographic and baseline characteristics of the study patients distributed in two arms: empirical treatment and targeted treatment
| Characteristics | Empirical treatment (n=89) | Targeted treatment (n=88) | p Value |
| Epidemiological data | |||
| Age, years | 64±19.2 | 65±20.1 | 0.88 |
| Males | 58 (65) | 59 (67) | 0.87 |
| Smoking habit | 17 (19) | 18 (20) | 0.85 |
| Alcohol abuse | 4 (4) | 8 (9) | 0.25 |
| COPD | 16 (18) | 20 (23) | 0.46 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 18 (20) | 13 (15) | 0.43 |
| Chronic heart failure | 10 (11) | 7 (8) | 0.61 |
| Chronic liver disease | 2 (2) | 3 (3) | 0.68 |
| Chronic renal disease | 4 (4) | 5 (6) | 0.75 |
| Neoplasm | 5 (6) | 9 (10) | 0.28 |
| Prior antibiotic therapy | 21 (24) | 18 (21) | 0.72 |
| Clinical findings | |||
| Heart rate, beats/min | 97±17.9 | 101±17.2 | 0.76 |
| Respiratory rate, cycles/min | 25±8.1 | 27±8.6 | 0.62 |
| PO2 | 64±22.1 | 67±20.9 | 0.70 |
| Radiological features | |||
| Multilobar infiltrate | 15 (17) | 12 (14) | 0.68 |
| Pleural effusion | 12 (14) | 7 (8) | 0.33 |
| PSI categories | |||
| Class IV–V | 52 (58) | 51 (58) | 1.00 |
| Initial intravenous treatment regimen | |||
| Ceftriaxone plus macrolide | 65 (73) | 68 (77) | 0.66 |
| Amoxicillin–clavulanate plus macrolide | 4 (4) | 2 (2) | |
| Levofloxacin | 20 (22) | 18 (20) | |
Data are presented as mean±SD, or numbers of patients (percentage).
COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; PO2, partial pressure of oxygen; PSI, Pneumonia Severity Index.