Pneumococcal Disease

Pneumococcal disease is caused by a bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, or pneumococcus. Pneumococcal disease includes several key clinical manifestations that can be noninvasive or invasive.¹

S pneumoniae is the most common cause of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia.¹

S pneumoniae can also cause illnesses of the upper respiratory tract, such as otitis media and sinusitis.¹

Age increases the risk for IPD

• There is approximately a 2-fold risk for IPD in healthy adults aged ≥65 years compared to healthy adults aged 50–64 years.^2,a
• Certain chronic conditions increase the risk for IPD in adults (18–64 years).^2,a

1. ^aRetrospective cohort study using data from January 1, 2006, through December 31, 2010, from 3 health care claims databases representing >35 million insured adults ≥18 years of age. Risk for IPD was compared between healthy adults ≥65 years of age and healthy adults 50 to 64 years of age. Risk for IPD in adults with chronic conditions was compared to age-matched healthy counterparts.²

• Diabetes mellitus may cause patients to be in a hyperglycemic state, which can functionally impair certain immune cells. This leads to reduced clearance of bacteria and increases the probability of infection.³
• Chronic heart disease may cause inadequate cardiac output that causes lung congestion. This in turn leads to reduced clearance of bacteria and may increase the risk for infection.^4,5,6
• Chronic lung disease (COPD) causes chronic lung inflammation and impaired functionality of certain cells of the immune system, which reduces clearance of bacteria and potentially leads to infection.⁷

There are many reasons why older patients are more susceptible to pneumococcal disease. For example, the cough mechanism becomes less effective, and the immune system weakens, increasing the susceptibility to pneumococcal disease.⁸

• Although noninvasive pneumococcal pneumonia is more prevalent than invasive disease, the diagnosis is often difficult to make, and confirming, for example, that a case of pneumonia is definitively caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae can be challenging.⁹
• For this reason, invasive pneumococcal disease is a reliable indicator of overall pneumococcal disease burden.⁹