Blood Culture Status and Mortality in Patients with Suspected Bacteremia
Author Information
Author(s): Søgaard Mette, Nørgaard Mette, Pedersen Lars, Sørensen Henrik T, Schønheyder Henrik C
Primary Institution: Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University Hospital
Hypothesis
What is the impact of blood culture status on mortality among patients with suspected community-acquired bacteremia?
Conclusion
Community-acquired bacteremia was associated with an increased risk of mortality in the first week of medical ward admission.
Supporting Evidence
- Mortality was 4.8% in bacteremic patients compared to 2.0% in culture-negative patients within the first 2 days.
- Patients with polymicrobial bacteremia had the highest mortality rates.
- After the first 2 days, mortality rates for Gram-negative bacteremia were similar to culture-negative patients.
Takeaway
If someone has a serious infection in their blood when they go to the hospital, they are more likely to die in the first week than someone who doesn't have that infection.
Methodology
This cohort study included 29,273 adults with blood cultures performed within the first 2 days following hospital admission, comparing mortality rates between bacteremic and culture-negative patients.
Potential Biases
Potential biases include misclassification of exposure status and lack of clinical detail in administrative data.
Limitations
The study may have misclassified exposure status due to the timing of blood culture collection and lacked data on clinical states at the time of blood culturing.
Participant Demographics
Patients were primarily adults over age 15, with a median age of 73 for bacteremic patients and 68 for culture-negative patients.
Statistical Information
P-Value
0.001
Confidence Interval
1.6-2.2
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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