Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is considered the world’s most fatal infectious disease and is associated with a fundamental burden in healthcare and society [1]. 30-day mortality ranges from <1 % to >40 % and varies according to disease severity, therapeutic environment and patient characteristics, such as age, frailty and comorbidities, which points out the relevance of treatment quality and recognition of individual conditions [2–5]. Earlier studies suggest a serious disease burden resulting from short-term post-discharge complications including hospital readmissions (up to 21 %) [6–12] and mortality (30-day post-discharge mortality 8.2 % in a recent US study) matching post-treatment mortality rates of patients suffering from heart failure and acute coronary syndrome [13–16].
