Aspiration pneumonia (AP) in older persons is associated with oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) and is estimated to account for 5-15% of cases of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).
AIMS MEDICAL has contributed to the scientific article “Assessing the Prevalence and the Underdiagnosis of Aspiration Pneumonia Among Older Hospitalized Patients with Community-Acquired Pneumonia Using an Artificial Intelligence Algorithm”, published in the journal Pneumonia.
The study assessed the potential underdiagnosis of aspiration pneumonia among older patients hospitalised with community-acquired pneumonia and examined the ability of AIMS-OD to identify patients at high risk of oropharyngeal dysphagia, one of the main factors associated with aspiration.
The retrospective study included 15,603 patients over 65 years of age who were admitted to hospital with pneumonia between 2013 and 2022.
According to standard clinical practice and diagnostic coding at discharge, the prevalence of aspiration pneumonia was 15.57%. However, when AIMS-OD was retrospectively applied to electronic health record data, the estimated proportion of patients at risk of aspiration pneumonia associated with oropharyngeal dysphagia increased to 25.32%.
AIMS-OD identified 1,891 additional patients who had not been detected through standard clinical practice, representing a potential 62.6% increase in the identification of aspiration pneumonia associated with oropharyngeal dysphagia.
AIMS-OD is a risk-identification and clinical decision-support tool. A positive result does not independently establish a diagnosis of aspiration pneumonia. Instead, it identifies patients who may require further clinical evaluation.
This publication reinforces the importance of combining artificial intelligence, clinical assessment and multidisciplinary expertise to improve the prevention, identification and management of complications associated with oropharyngeal dysphagia.
Read the full article:
https://doi.org/10.1186/s41479-025-00175-x