When Does a Lung Infection Need Hospital Care? Oxygen Levels and Other Signals Doctors Use

It is a little after two in the morning. Your father has had a chest infection for four days, the antibiotics started on Tuesday, and he has just told you, quite calmly, that he feels fine. He does not look fine. His shoulders lift with every breath, his lips have a faint gray tinge under the lamp, and the small fingertip oximeter left over from the pandemic keeps flickering between 91 and 93. You are standing in the doorway asking yourself a question that thousands of families ask every night: when does a lung infection need hospital care, and when is it just a rough night that will pass?

The honest answer is that doctors do not decide this on a hunch. They use a small set of measurable signals, most of which you can observe at home, and they add them up. This article walks through those signals, one by one, in the order a clinician would.

Knowing the arithmetic will not replace a phone call to your doctor. It will make that call clearer, and it will help you recognize the moment when waiting stops being the safe choice.

When does a lung infection need hospital care? The short version clinicians use

Most lung infections never see the inside of a hospital. Bronchitis, the inflammation of the airways that carry air into the lungs, is almost always managed at home. Pneumonia, an infection that fills the small air sacs of the lung with fluid and pus, is more serious, yet the NHS notes that it too is usually treated at home unless the illness is severe or the person is at particular risk.

So what tips the balance? Clinicians ask a deceptively simple question: is this infection still a problem confined to the lungs, or has it started to affect the whole body? An infection that stays local causes cough, fever and chest discomfort. An infection that spills over causes the numbers to move: oxygen falls, breathing speeds up, blood pressure drops, and the brain, starved of oxygen or flooded with inflammatory chemicals, becomes foggy. Those whole-body changes are what hospitals are built to reverse.

The Mayo Clinic lists the signals that commonly lead to admission for adults: confusion about time, place or people; a decline in kidney function; a systolic blood pressure below 90 or a diastolic pressure of 60 or lower; breathing that is rapid, 30 or more breaths a minute; a need for breathing assistance; a body temperature below normal; and a heart rate below 50 or above 100. Being older than 65 adds weight to every other finding.

Notice what is not on that list. The color of the sputum is not there. The loudness of the cough is not there. How long the fever has lasted matters less than what the fever is doing to the rest of the body. When you wonder whether a lung infection needs hospital care, the question is not how bad the cough sounds. It is whether the heart, lungs, kidneys and brain are still coping.

What actually happens when a doctor assesses a chest infection

Picture the assessment as three layers, each taking a few minutes. The first layer is looking and listening before anyone touches a stethoscope. Can the person finish a sentence without pausing for air? Are they using the muscles of the neck and shoulders to breathe? Is their skin pale, mottled or bluish around the lips? Are they alert, or drifting? Experienced clinicians form a rough impression in this first minute, and it is often right.

The second layer is the vital signs. A nurse or doctor will count the breathing rate for a full minute, check the pulse, measure blood pressure, take a temperature and clip a pulse oximeter, a small light-based sensor that estimates the percentage of oxygen carried by red blood cells, to a finger. MedlinePlus describes this test as painless and immediate, which is exactly why it has become the workhorse of emergency triage.

The third layer, when the first two raise concern, involves tests. A chest X-ray shows whether one small patch of lung is affected or several lobes are involved. Blood tests look for signs of a strong inflammatory response, for how well the kidneys are working, and for whether infection has entered the bloodstream. In hospital, an arterial blood gas, a sample drawn from an artery in the wrist, gives a precise oxygen and carbon dioxide reading that no fingertip device can match. Sputum or nasal swabs may identify the germ, which matters because viral pneumonia and bacterial pneumonia are treated differently.

None of these layers is a verdict on its own. A frightened teenager can breathe fast with a perfectly healthy chest; a stoic 80-year-old can sit quietly with an oxygen level that would alarm anyone reading it. The skill lies in fitting the pieces together, and that is why the final decision always rests with the clinician who has examined the patient.

What oxygen level for pneumonia means hospital care?

Oxygen saturation, written as SpO2, is the percentage of hemoglobin in your blood that is currently carrying oxygen. MedlinePlus puts the normal range for healthy people at about 95 percent or higher, and the Cleveland Clinic describes readings below 90 percent as low enough to warrant medical attention. Between those two numbers sits a gray zone that causes most of the two-in-the-morning worry.

Why does 90 matter so much? Because of the shape of the oxygen curve. Above roughly 92 percent, a small drop in saturation reflects only a modest fall in the oxygen actually dissolved in the blood. Below about 90 percent, the curve steepens; each further point lost represents a much larger loss of oxygen reaching the tissues. That is the physiological reason clinicians treat a reading in the high 80s very differently from one at 94.

Doctors also look at the trend, not the snapshot. A person who has hovered at 93 percent for two days is in a different situation from one who was 97 yesterday and 93 today. A reading that falls when the person walks to the bathroom and does not recover within a minute or two of sitting down is another warning that the lungs have lost their reserve.

Fingertip devices have limits worth knowing. The Cleveland Clinic notes that cold hands, nail polish, poor circulation, movement and darker skin pigmentation can all make a reading less accurate, and that pigmentation in particular can lead the device to overestimate saturation. If the number does not match how the person looks, trust the person. Someone with gray lips, confusion and labored breathing needs help regardless of what the little screen says, and someone whose oximeter reads 88 percent should be assessed even if they insist they feel all right.

Breathing rate, blood pressure and confusion: the signals beyond oxygen

Oxygen gets the attention, yet three other signals often move first, and clinicians weigh them heavily.

Breathing rate is the one most families overlook. A resting adult usually takes somewhere between 12 and 20 breaths a minute. The Mayo Clinic identifies 30 or more breaths a minute as one of the findings that commonly leads to hospital admission. Fast breathing is the body compensating: the lungs are pulling in more air per minute to make up for the sections that are no longer exchanging gas properly. It works for a while. It also tires the breathing muscles, and when they fatigue, oxygen can fall suddenly rather than gradually. Counting breaths for a full minute while the person is unaware is far more accurate than a glance.

Blood pressure tells you whether the infection has begun to affect circulation. Inflammation widens blood vessels and can make them leaky, so the pressure inside the system drops. A systolic reading below 90 or a diastolic of 60 or lower, in the Mayo Clinic’s list, is a marker that the infection may be progressing toward sepsis, the body’s overwhelming and dangerous response to infection. Low blood pressure often shows up as dizziness on standing, cold hands and feet, or passing very little urine.

Confusion is the signal that most often gets dismissed as tiredness, especially in older adults. New muddled thinking, not knowing the day, unusual drowsiness or an inability to hold a simple conversation all suggest the brain is not receiving what it needs. Family members are the best judges here, because they know what normal looks like for this particular person. The message to carry from this section is plain: if breathing is fast, pressure is low or thinking is off, the lungs are no longer the only organ in trouble.

Who is usually admitted, and who is usually asked to recover at home

Admission decisions rest on two overlapping questions: how severe is the infection right now, and how much reserve does this person have if it worsens? A young, otherwise healthy adult with a modest fever, a clear head and an oxygen level in the mid-90s has both a mild illness and plenty of reserve, so home is almost always the right place. The Mayo Clinic notes that the decision hinges on age, the presence of other health conditions and how sick the person appears at assessment.

People more likely to be admitted include adults over 65, in whom the immune response is slower and the warning signs quieter; people with chronic lung disease such as COPD or asthma, whose lungs have less spare capacity to begin with; people with heart failure, diabetes or kidney disease, because infection strains organs that are already working hard; and anyone whose immune system is weakened by illness or by treatments such as chemotherapy. Pregnancy also shifts the calculation, since the lungs are already working at a higher baseline.

Practical circumstances count too. Someone who lives alone, cannot reliably take fluids, or has no one to notice if they deteriorate overnight may be admitted at a level of illness that would otherwise be watched at home. Clinicians think about what happens at three in the morning if things go wrong.

Who is usually asked to wait, or rather to recover at home with a safety net? Those with normal or near-normal vital signs, a clear head, the ability to eat, drink and take prescribed medicines, and a household that can keep an eye on them. Being sent home is not a dismissal; it reflects a judgment that hospital carries its own risks, including infection and loss of mobility, and that for this person, at this moment, home is safer. That judgment can change, and it should be revisited if anything shifts.

Can pneumonia be treated at home? What home care actually involves

Yes, and most of it is. The NHS states that mild pneumonia can usually be treated at home with rest, fluids and, where a bacterial cause is suspected, antibiotics prescribed by a clinician. Home treatment is not a lesser option; it is the standard one for people whose bodies are coping.

What does coping look like from the kitchen table? Fluids are the first task. Fever and fast breathing both lose water, and dehydration thickens mucus and strains the kidneys, so regular sips throughout the day matter more than large glasses occasionally. Rest genuinely aids recovery because the body spends real energy fighting infection. Sitting upright rather than lying flat lets the lower parts of the lungs expand more fully. Not smoking, and keeping smoke out of the home, protects irritated airways.

Where antibiotics are prescribed, they belong to classes such as penicillin-type drugs or macrolides, which work by damaging bacterial cell walls or blocking the bacteria’s ability to build proteins. They do nothing against viruses, which is why a clinician may decide not to prescribe them when the picture points to a viral cause. Completing a prescribed course as directed, and never stopping early because you feel better, is a decision that sits with you and your prescriber, and any question about it should go to them rather than to a search engine.

Home care also involves watching. The NHS advises that people with pneumonia at home should expect improvement within a few days of starting treatment and should seek help if they do not. Keep a simple log: temperature morning and evening, how many breaths a minute at rest, oxygen reading if you have a device, and how much the person is drinking. Numbers written down over three days tell a story that memory cannot, and they make the conversation with your doctor precise.

Home care, hospital ward or intensive care: a side-by-side

The three settings differ less in the medicines used and more in how closely the body is monitored and how much support it receives. The table below summarizes typical features drawn from NHS and Mayo Clinic descriptions of pneumonia care. It is a guide to what commonly happens, not a rule for any individual.

Feature	Home care	Hospital ward	Intensive care
Typical oxygen picture	Saturation in the mid-90s or above on room air	Needs supplemental oxygen through a nasal tube or mask to stay at target	Needs high-flow oxygen, non-invasive ventilation or a breathing machine
Breathing rate	Under 30 a minute, able to speak in full sentences	Often 30 or more, tiring, needing observation	Exhausted breathing muscles or failing gas exchange
Blood pressure and circulation	Normal	May be borderline; intravenous fluids given	Low despite fluids; medicines to support blood pressure
Mental state	Alert	May be drowsy or mildly confused	Often significantly altered
Medicines	Oral antibiotics if prescribed, fluids, rest	Intravenous antibiotics and fluids where indicated	Intravenous therapy plus organ support
Monitoring	Family observation, follow-up call or visit	Vital signs checked several times a day	Continuous monitoring

Two points deserve emphasis. First, the boundaries are porous: many people admitted to a ward are stepped down to home within a few days once oxygen needs fall, and a smaller number move up to intensive care when they do not. Second, the hospital’s core contribution is often oxygen itself, delivered steadily while the antibiotics, or the person’s own immune system in viral cases, do the slower work of clearing the infection.

Intensive care sounds frightening, and it is a serious step, yet it is best understood as the setting where a struggling body is supported long enough to recover on its own terms. The treating team will explain what any move between levels means for your relative and why they judge it necessary.

Signs pneumonia is getting worse after treatment has started

Improvement is not always a straight line, but it should be a line. The NHS notes that most people begin to feel better within a few days of starting antibiotics for bacterial pneumonia, with fever typically gone by about one week. When that does not happen, or when a person who was improving slips back, clinicians want to know.

The clearest signal of deterioration is a change in the numbers you have been logging. An oxygen reading that was 95 and is now 91. A breathing rate that has crept from 20 to 28. A temperature that came down for a day and has climbed again. Any of these on its own is a reason to call; two together are a reason to call promptly.

Symptoms tell the same story in words. Breathlessness that now appears while sitting still, when yesterday it came only on the stairs. Chest pain that sharpens with each breath, which can indicate the infection has reached the lining of the lung. Coughing up blood, or a sudden increase in the amount of discolored sputum. Drinking less because swallowing feels like too much effort. New confusion, or sleepiness that does not lift.

There are two quieter patterns worth recognizing. The first is the person who is not getting worse but is not getting better either, still feverish and exhausted on day four or five of antibiotics. That plateau may mean the wrong germ is being targeted, or that a complication such as a pocket of fluid around the lung has formed, and it warrants reassessment. The second is the person with a second illness underneath, often heart failure or COPD, whose underlying condition flares as the infection stresses it; here the breathlessness may be as much about the heart as the lungs. In both cases the answer is the same: describe what has changed, with numbers if you have them, and let the clinician decide.

What hospital treatment for a lung infection actually involves

Families often imagine hospital treatment as stronger drugs. Much of it is simpler than that, and the Mayo Clinic’s description of pneumonia care in hospital centers on three elements: oxygen, fluids and antibiotics given directly into a vein where appropriate.

Oxygen comes first. A soft tube resting at the nostrils, or a mask, delivers a higher concentration of oxygen than room air contains, and the team adjusts the flow to hold saturation in a target range. For most people this alone brings the breathing rate down within minutes, because the lungs no longer have to work so hard to extract enough oxygen from ordinary air. When a simple mask is not enough, high-flow devices push warmed, humidified oxygen at higher rates, and non-invasive ventilation uses a tight mask to help the lungs inflate. A mechanical ventilator, which breathes for the patient through a tube in the windpipe, is reserved for those whose own breathing can no longer sustain them.

Fluids by vein correct dehydration and support blood pressure. Antibiotics by vein reach the bloodstream immediately and at reliable levels, which matters when someone is vomiting or too unwell to swallow; as the person improves, the team commonly switches to tablets. Where influenza is confirmed, an antiviral from the neuraminidase inhibitor class, which blocks the virus from spreading between cells, may be used. None of these choices is made by formula; the prescribing clinician weighs the likely germ, kidney function, allergies and the person’s overall state.

Around these core treatments sits a set of unglamorous but important measures: helping the person sit upright and move, chest physiotherapy to clear mucus, monitoring urine output as a window onto the kidneys, and preventing blood clots in people confined to bed. Discharge usually follows once oxygen needs have gone or stabilized, the fever has settled and the person can manage fluids and medicines at home.

When does a lung infection need hospital care for children and older adults?

The two ends of life follow different rules, and both are easy to misjudge.

Children breathe faster than adults at baseline, so the adult threshold of 30 breaths a minute does not apply. Clinicians instead look at the pattern of breathing and at behavior. The Mayo Clinic lists the reasons a child with pneumonia may be admitted: age under two months, unusual sleepiness or lethargy, trouble breathing, low blood oxygen levels, and signs of dehydration. Parents can watch for specific things: the skin between the ribs or below the ribcage pulling inward with each breath, flaring nostrils, grunting at the end of each breath, or a child too breathless to feed. A child who is quiet, floppy and uninterested in play is more worrying than one who is crying loudly. Treatment in hospital follows the same principles as for adults, oxygen, fluids and antibiotics where a bacterial cause is suspected, delivered in child-appropriate ways with a parent close by. Any question about a child’s medicines belongs with the pediatric team.

Older adults present the opposite problem: too little noise. Fever may be absent or replaced by a temperature below normal, which the Mayo Clinic flags as a hospital-level sign. The cough may be weak. What families notice instead is that Grandmother stopped eating yesterday, fell in the bathroom this morning, or seems suddenly confused. These are frequently the first and only signs of pneumonia in someone over 80, and they are exactly the kind of change that should prompt a same-day assessment. Age over 65 appears on the Mayo Clinic’s admission list for good reason: reserve is lower, deterioration can be rapid, and recovery is slower. The NHS observes that pneumonia carries higher risk in this group, which is why the threshold for hospital care is deliberately lower.

What the following days and weeks usually look like

Recovery from pneumonia is slower than most people expect, and knowing the typical shape of it prevents a great deal of unnecessary alarm. The NHS provides a rough timeline for uncomplicated pneumonia that clinicians often quote to patients.

Within about one week, fever should have gone. Within roughly four weeks, chest pain and mucus production should have reduced substantially. By about six weeks, the cough and breathlessness should have eased considerably. At three months, most symptoms should have resolved, though tiredness may linger. By six months, most people feel back to normal. These are typical ranges, not promises, and older adults or those with other illnesses often sit at the longer end.

For someone who was admitted, the first days after discharge often feel like a step backward. The steady supply of oxygen and the enforced rest of a ward are gone, and simply walking to the kitchen can leave a person winded. This is expected, provided the trajectory over a week is upward. A follow-up appointment, and sometimes a repeat chest X-ray a few weeks later to confirm the lung has cleared, are commonly arranged; the treating team will say what applies.

Fatigue deserves its own mention. Many people describe an exhaustion out of proportion to what they are doing, weeks after the cough has settled. This reflects the energy the body has spent and the muscle lost during illness rather than ongoing infection. Gentle, gradually increasing activity helps rebuild that reserve; pushing through to exhaustion does not.

What should not happen during recovery is a return of fever, a fresh rise in breathing rate, new chest pain or a fall in oxygen levels after they had normalized. Those are signs of a relapse or a complication, and they belong in the next section rather than in the story of ordinary recovery.

What people often get wrong about lung infections and hospitals

Some misunderstandings are so common that clinicians hear them weekly, and a few are genuinely dangerous.

The first is that green or yellow sputum means you need antibiotics, or the hospital. The color comes from immune cells and their enzymes, and it appears in viral infections as readily as bacterial ones. What matters is how the person is coping, not the shade of what they cough up.

The second is the opposite error: that a normal oxygen reading means everything is fine. A fingertip oximeter measures one variable. A person can hold a saturation of 95 percent through sheer effort, breathing 32 times a minute, and be close to exhaustion. Fast breathing, low blood pressure and confusion are all hospital-level signals in the Mayo Clinic’s list, and none of them registers on an oximeter.

The third is that antibiotics should work within a day. The NHS timeline puts fever resolution at around one week, and feeling markedly better often takes two to three days. Stopping, switching or doubling up on medicines because of impatience is a decision for the prescriber, never for the patient alone.

The fourth is that hospital is always the safer choice. It is safer when the body needs support that home cannot provide. It carries risks of its own, including hospital-acquired infection, disrupted sleep and loss of strength from lying in bed, which is why clinicians do not admit people who can safely recover at home.

The fifth is that a strong young adult cannot become seriously ill. Most do not. Some do, particularly with influenza or when a bacterial infection follows a viral one. Age lowers the threshold for admission; it does not grant immunity from the signals that trigger it.

The last is that a person who insists they feel fine is fine. Low oxygen can produce a curious calm. Trust the numbers and the appearance over the reassurance.

Questions to ask your care team

Whether the decision is home or hospital, the conversation goes better when you know what to ask. These questions are drawn from what patients and families most often wish they had raised.

If the plan is home care, consider asking: What specifically should improve, and by when, if this treatment is working? Which changes should prompt a call during office hours, and which should send us straight to emergency care? Is there a target oxygen reading you would like us to watch for, given the device we have? How much fluid is enough each day for this person? If the antibiotic causes side effects, whom do we contact rather than stopping it ourselves? Is there anything about his other conditions, his heart, his kidneys, his breathing medicines, that changes the plan?

If admission is being discussed, useful questions include: What is the main reason you want to admit, oxygen, blood pressure or something else? What would need to change for discharge to be safe? How will we know if the treatment is working over the next 24 to 48 hours? Are you treating this as viral or bacterial, and does that change what happens next? Who will be the point of contact for the family? What should we expect in the first week after coming home?

At discharge or follow-up, ask: Is a repeat chest X-ray planned, and why? What level of activity is reasonable this week? Which symptoms during recovery are normal, and which would mean the infection has returned? Are there vaccines you would suggest discussing once fully recovered?

Write the answers down. Illness makes memory unreliable, and a page of notes carried between appointments is one of the most practical tools a family has. The care team makes the medical decisions; your job is to understand them well enough to act on them at home.

When to call your doctor: red-flag signs that should not wait

Two levels of urgency apply here, and it helps to keep them separate.

Call your doctor the same day if a person with a chest infection has a fever that has not started to settle after about three days of treatment, is drinking noticeably less, has a cough that is worsening rather than easing, has a home oxygen reading that has drifted down by two or three points from their usual, or simply seems more unwell than yesterday in a way you find hard to name. The NHS advises seeking advice when symptoms do not improve with treatment or when a person is in a higher-risk group, including those over 65 and those with long-term conditions.

Seek emergency care immediately, by ambulance if needed, for any of the following red flags: struggling to breathe or unable to finish a short sentence; breathing at 30 or more breaths a minute at rest; an oxygen reading near or below 90 percent that does not recover with rest; blue or gray lips, face or fingertips; new confusion, unusual drowsiness or difficulty waking; coughing up blood; severe chest pain; skin that is cold, clammy, pale or mottled; passing little or no urine over several hours; or fainting. In a baby or young child, add grunting breaths, the skin pulling in between the ribs, refusing to feed, or a limp and unresponsive appearance. These are the signals the Mayo Clinic and NHS associate with severe pneumonia and with sepsis, and they call for assessment within minutes, not hours.

Do not wait for a morning appointment because the person says they are fine, and do not drive them yourself if they are struggling to breathe or drowsy; emergency services can begin oxygen on the way. Whatever the outcome, the treating team will decide the next step. Your part is to notice the change and make the call.

Frequently asked questions

What oxygen level for pneumonia means you should go to the hospital?

A reading that stays near or below 90 percent, especially if it does not recover with rest, is a signal for urgent assessment according to Cleveland Clinic guidance on pulse oximetry. Readings between 90 and 94 percent deserve a same-day call to your doctor, particularly if they are falling or if breathing is fast. Always weigh the number against how the person looks and acts.

When should I go to the ER for pneumonia rather than waiting for my doctor?

Go to emergency care at once for breathing at 30 or more breaths a minute, inability to finish a sentence, blue or gray lips, new confusion or drowsiness, an oxygen reading near or below 90 percent, coughing up blood, severe chest pain or fainting. These are the signs the Mayo Clinic and NHS associate with severe pneumonia and sepsis, and they should not wait for office hours.

Can pneumonia be treated at home safely?

Yes. The NHS states that mild pneumonia is usually treated at home with rest, fluids and antibiotics when a bacterial cause is suspected. Home is considered appropriate when vital signs are near normal, the person is alert, can drink and take medicines, and someone can watch for deterioration. The clinician who examines you makes that judgment, and it can be revisited if anything changes.

What are the signs pneumonia is getting worse even on antibiotics?

Watch for a falling oxygen reading, a rising breathing rate, fever that returns after settling, breathlessness at rest, sharp chest pain with each breath, coughing up blood, drinking less, or new confusion. The NHS notes most people improve within a few days of starting treatment; a plateau at day four or five, with no improvement, also warrants reassessment because the germ or a complication may need a different approach.

How do doctors decide between a hospital ward and intensive care?

The ward is for people who need supplemental oxygen, intravenous fluids or antibiotics and regular monitoring but whose breathing and circulation are holding. Intensive care is for those whose oxygen cannot be maintained with a simple mask, whose blood pressure stays low despite fluids, or whose breathing muscles are failing and need machine support. Movement between levels is common, and the treating team explains each step.

Is a fingertip pulse oximeter reliable enough to rely on at home?

It is useful but imperfect. MedlinePlus describes pulse oximetry as painless and immediate, while the Cleveland Clinic notes that cold hands, nail polish, movement, poor circulation and darker skin pigmentation can make readings less accurate. Use it to track trends over days, warm the hand first, and never let a reassuring number override a person who looks gray, confused or exhausted.

Why is a fast breathing rate taken so seriously?

Because it shows the body compensating for lungs that are no longer exchanging gas well, and compensation eventually fails. The Mayo Clinic lists 30 or more breaths a minute as a finding that commonly leads to admission. Tired breathing muscles can give out suddenly, causing oxygen to drop quickly rather than gradually. Count breaths for a full minute while the person is unaware for an accurate figure.

How long does recovery from pneumonia usually take after leaving hospital?

The NHS timeline suggests fever settles within about one week, chest pain and mucus within roughly four weeks, cough and breathlessness within about six weeks, and most symptoms within three months, with tiredness sometimes lingering to six months. Older adults and those with other illnesses often take longer. These are typical ranges, not guarantees, and your follow-up team will advise on your own situation.

Do older adults with pneumonia always have a fever?

No, and this is a common trap. Older adults may have a normal or even below-normal temperature, which the Mayo Clinic flags as a hospital-level sign. The first clues are often sudden confusion, a fall, refusal to eat or unusual sleepiness. Because reserve is lower and deterioration can be rapid, age over 65 appears on the admission criteria, and any abrupt change in an older person warrants same-day assessment.

What is sepsis, and how is it linked to lung infections?

Sepsis is the body’s overwhelming and dangerous response to an infection, in which inflammation spreads beyond the original site and begins to damage organs. Pneumonia is one of its most common triggers. Warning signs include low blood pressure, fast breathing, confusion, cold or mottled skin and passing little urine. These findings appear in the Mayo Clinic’s admission criteria and require emergency assessment.

References

• NHS: Pneumonia
• MedlinePlus: Pulse Oximetry
• CDC: About Pneumonia

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.