REVIEW article
Front. Med.
Sec. Geriatric Medicine
Potential role of serological biomarkers in the diagnosis and prediction of community-acquired pneumonia in elderly individuals
Provisionally accepted
- 1苏州大学附属第一医院全科医学, 苏州市, China
- 2First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
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Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is one of the most common lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) and has substantial clinical and economic impacts on healthcare systems worldwide. Because of impaired host defenses and/or underlying health problems, CAP in elderly patients is associated with increased mortality and morbidity compared with that in younger patients and is prone to developing severe community-acquired pneumonia (SCAP). Diagnosis, severity evaluation, and prognosis are still challenges for physicians. Therefore, new diagnostic methods are needed to identify the different stages of CAP and monitor disease progression. The value of serological biomarkers has been extensively investigated in infectious diseases. In clinical practice, there are currently no defined or agreed-upon biomarker(s) for CAP that can be readily tested. An ideal biomarker that is simple, easy to perform, noninvasive or microinvasive, inexpensive, rapid, and reproducible is helpful for patients and clinicians. The aim of this review is to highlight potential serological biomarkers for the diagnosis and prediction of CAP in elderly individuals, providing novel strategies for patient stratification and treatment.
Keywords: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), elderly patients, Serological biomarkers, diagnosis, prognosis
Received: 05 Sep 2025; Accepted: 04 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hou, Jin and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yi feng Jin, doctorking0211@163.com
Jie Li, lijie@suda.edu.cn
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