Pneumonia as “the old man’s friend” suggests a high
prevalence of pneumonia in older people that results in
high mortality.
12
In the present institutionalized patients,
80% died after contracting pneumonia (Table 1), but in
patients receiving oral care, the mortality due to pneumonia
was about half of that in patients not receiving oral care.
A comparison of mortality after pneumonia suggests that
oral care was much more effective in decreasing mortality
than were medical treatments for pneumonia.