Current guidelines recommend broad-spectrum antibiotics for high-severity community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), potentially contributing to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). We aim to compare outcomes in CAP patients treated with amoxicillin (narrow-spectrum) versus co-amoxiclav (broad-spectrum), to understand if narrow-spectrum antibiotics could be used more widely.

We analysed electronic health records from adults (≥16 y) admitted to hospital with a primary diagnosis of pneumonia between 01-January-2016 and 30-September-2023 in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. Patients receiving baseline ([−12 h,+24 h] from admission) amoxicillin or co-amoxiclav were included. The association between 30-day all-cause mortality and baseline antibiotic was examined using propensity score (PS) matching and inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW) to address confounding by baseline characteristics and disease severity. Subgroup analyses by disease severity and sensitivity analyses with missing covariates imputed were also conducted.

Among 16,072 admissions with a primary diagnosis of pneumonia, 9685 received either baseline amoxicillin or co-amoxiclav. There was no evidence of a difference in 30-day mortality between patients receiving initial co-amoxiclav vs. amoxicillin (PS matching: marginal odds ratio 0.97 [0.76–1.27], p = 0.61; IPTW: 1.02 [0.78–1.33], p = 0.87). Results remained similar across stratified analyses of mild, moderate, and severe pneumonia. Results were also similar with missing data imputed. There was also no evidence of an association between 30-day mortality and use of additional macrolides or additional doxycycline.

There was no evidence of co-amoxiclav being advantageous over amoxicillin for treatment of CAP in 30-day mortality at a population-level, regardless of disease severity. Wider use of narrow-spectrum empirical treatment of moderate/severe CAP should be considered to curb potential for AMR.