Pneumonia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in older people.
The poor outcome of older pneumonia patients despite treatment is still not understood. Enzyme activities were measured at one time point in healthy controls. In contrast there were no significant differences in plasma aspirin esterase activity or induced monocyte AHH activity between pneumonia patients and healthy controls. The activities of several esterases are reduced in older pneumonia patients. Other enzymes including aspirin esterase and induced monocyte AHH activity are unaltered in pneumonia.