When assessing risk factors, which question would you ask a client who has developed pneumonia?

• A. Are you diabetic?
• B. Do you take daily vitamins?
• C. Do you use tobacco only occasionally?
• D. Have you recently had dental work?

Answer: (A)

Assessing risk factors for pneumonia hinges on identifying conditions that weaken the body’s ability to fight infection. Diabetes is a systemic condition that impairs several immune defenses, including neutrophil function, chemotaxis, and phagocytosis, and poor glycemic control can further hinder host defense. This makes someone with diabetes more susceptible to pneumonia and can lead to more severe illness, so asking about diabetes directly targets a major risk factor.

While smoking can increase pneumonia risk by damaging airway defenses, and recent dental work might raise questions about other infection risks, those factors are not as directly tied to immune impairment as diabetes. Vitamins don’t have a direct, meaningful impact on pneumonia risk in this context, so the most relevant risk-factor question to elicit is whether the client has diabetes and how well it’s controlled.