Systemic Traditional Chinese Medicine in Multidrug-Resistant Bacterial Pneumonia

This is a multicenter prospective observational cohort study of hospitalized patients with multidrug-resistant bacterial pneumonia. The study will compare patients who receive systemic traditional Chinese medicine treatment during routine clinical care with those who do not receive systemic traditional Chinese medicine treatment. Systemic traditional Chinese medicine treatment may include Chinese herbal decoctions, oral Chinese patent medicines, or Chinese medicine injections.

The primary objective is to evaluate whether systemic traditional Chinese medicine treatment is associated with a lower risk of lower respiratory tract infection events within 180 days after hospital discharge. Secondary outcomes include mortality, rehospitalization, bacterial clearance, clinical cure at hospital discharge, duration of antibacterial therapy, pneumonia-related clinician-reported and patient-reported outcome scores, health-related quality of life, inflammatory markers, imaging changes, safety outcomes, and direct medical costs.