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Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffHow serious pneumonia is for you usually depends on your overall health and the type and extent of pneumonia you have.
If you're young and healthy, your pneumonia often can be treated successfully. However, some organisms that cause pneumonia are so virulent that they overwhelm the defense mechanisms, even in otherwise healthy people.
If you have heart failure or lung ailments, especially if you smoke, or if you're older, your pneumonia may be harder to treat successfully. You're also more likely to develop complications, some of which can be life-threatening.
Pneumonia complications may include:
- Bacteria in your bloodstream. Pneumonia can be life-threatening when inflammation from the disease fills the air sacs in your lungs and interferes with your ability to breathe. In some cases the infection may invade your bloodstream (bacteremia). It can then spread quickly to other organs.
- Fluid accumulation and infection around your lungs. Sometimes fluid accumulates between the thin, transparent membrane (pleura) covering your lungs and the membrane that lines the inner surface of your chest wall — a condition known as pleural effusion. Normally, the pleurae are smooth, allowing your lungs to slide easily along your chest wall when you breathe in and out. But when the pleurae around your lungs become inflamed (pleurisy) — often as a result of pneumonia — fluid can accumulate and may become infected (empyema).
- Lung abscess. A cavity containing pus (abscess) that forms within the area affected by pneumonia is another potential complication.
- Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The pneumonia involves most areas of both lungs, making breathing difficult and depriving your body of oxygen. Underlying lung disease of any kind, but especially COPD, makes you more susceptible to ARDS.
- Pneumonia. The Merck Manuals: 00The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec05/ch052/ch052a.html. Accessed March 25, 2009.
- Pneumonia fact sheet. American Lung Association. http://www.lungusa.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=2060321&content_id={08C669B0-E845-4C9C-8B1E-285348BC83BD}¬oc=1. Accessed March 28, 2009.
- Durrington H, et al. Recent changes in the management of community-acquired pneumonia in adults. British Medical Journal. 2008;336:1429.
- Pneumonia. American Lung Association. http://www.lungusa.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=4294229&ct=3052571. Accessed March 28, 2009.
- Menendez R, et al. Treatment failure in community-acquired pneumonia. Chest. 2007;132:1348.
- Singh S, et al. Long-term use of inhaled corticosteroids and the risk of pneumonia in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A meta-analysis. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2009;169;219.
- Chong C, et al. Pneumonia in the elderly: A review of the epidemiology, pathogenesis, microbiology and clinical features. Southern Medical Journal. 2008;101;1141.
- Chong C, et al. Pneumonia in the elderly: A review of severity assessment, prognosis, mortality, prevention and treatment. Southern Medical Journal. 2008;101;1134.
