Recent trends of pneumonia morbidity in US Naval personnel.

urrently, respiratory diseases account for 25-30 per cent of the total infectious and parasitic disease admissions among active duty Navy and Marine Corps (henceforth naval) personnel. Among these admissions, the greatest medical cause of lost workdays is pneumonia, due both to its frequency of diagnosis and to the relatively long hospitalization period associated with this disease. Because of the diversity of pathogens associated with the pneumonia syndrome, pertinent epidemiological information is difficult to extract from clinical observation or health surveys, except in the most general sense. A closed system of health care, such as that provided by the Navy, offers an opportunity to evaluate the significance of this disease in terms of its epidemiology, and to identify new areas for research which will further our understanding of factors contributing to patterns of pneumonia occurrence. The data available for study were hospital admission records of active duty naval personnel with primary diagnoses of pneumonia. By calculating and comparing specific admission rates for pneumonia, we identified high risk groups within the population and the temporal trends associated with morbidity.