Table 4.
Characteristics of patients receiving adequate or inadequate empirical antibiotic treatment (univariate analysis).
| Characteristic | Patients (n) receiving adequate empirical antibiotic treatment | Patients (n) receiving inadequate empirical antibiotic treatment | p-value | OR (95% CI) for adequate therapy |
| Number of patients | 418 (77.6%) | 121 (22.4%) | ||
| Women | 170 (70.2%) | 72 (29.8%) | < 0.001 | 0.47 (0.31–0.70) |
| Age | ||||
| Median age and range (years) | 67 [18–100] | 72 [17–97] | 0.038* | |
| < 40 years | 74 (77.1%) | 22 (22.9%) | 0.904 | 0.97 (0.57–1.64) |
| 41 – 60 yr. | 91 (87.5%) | 13 (12.5%) | 0.007 | 2.31 (1.12–4.30) |
| > 60 years | 253 (74.6%) | 86 (25.4%) | 0.034 | 0.62 (0.40–0.97) |
| Ward: | ||||
| Medicine/Geriatrics | 281 (78.3%) | 78 (21.7%) | 0.399 | 1.19 (0.80–1.76) |
| Surgery | 135 (78.9%) | 36 (21.1%) | 0.733 | 1.09 (0.70–1.65) |
| Medical and surgical intensive care | 25 (71.4%) | 10 (28.6%) | 0.408 | 0.73 (0.34–1.55) |
| Neurology | 1 (25.0%) | 3 (75.0%) | 0.040† | 0.10 (0.01–0.94) |
| Died in hospital | 25 (80.6%) | 6 (19.4%) | 0.671 | 1.22 (0.49–3.04) |
| Charlson index: | ||||
| Charlson index total 0 | 110 (81.5%) | 25 (18.5%) | 0.206 | 1.37 (0.84–2.24) |
| Charlson index total 1 – 5 | 264 (75.9%) | 84 (24.1%) | 0.205 | 0.76 (0.49–1.17) |
| Charlson index total > 5 | 44 (78.6%) | 12 (21.4%) | 0.845 | 1.07 (0.55–2.10) |
| McCabe index: | ||||
| Not fatal | 343 (77.4%) | 100 (22.6%) | 0.882 | 0.96 (0.56–1.64) |
| Fatal (< 5 years) | 52 (81.3%) | 12 (18.8%) | 0.450 | 1.29 (0.67–2.51) |
| Fatal (< 6 months) | 23 (71.9%) | 9 (28.1%) | 0.428 | 0.73 (0.33–1.61) |
| Number of microbiological exams performed: | ||||
| None | 78 (77.2%) | 23 (22.8%) | 0.931 | 0.98 (0.58–1.64) |
| One or more | 340 (77.6%) | 98 (22.4%) | 0.931 | 1.02 (0.61–1.71) |
| Infectious diseases consultants involved: | ||||
| Within 24 hours | 23 (62.2%) | 14 (37.8%) | 0.020 | 0.45 (0.22–0.89) |
| Were involved | 58 (69.0%) | 26 (31.0%) | 0.042 | 0.59 (0.35–0.99) |
| Therapy adjusted | 128 (76.2%) | 40 (23.8%) | 0.611 | 0.89 (0.58–1.38) |
| Hepatic failure reported | 1 (50.0%) | 1 (50.0%) | 0.399† | 0.29 (0.02–4.64) |
| Renal failure reported | 100 (69.0%) | 45 (31.0%) | 0.004 | 0.53 (0.35–0.82) |
| Received broad-spectrum antibiotics or vancomycin | 62 (65.3%) | 33 (34.7%) | 0.002 | 0.46 (0.29–0.75) |
| Allergy to antibiotics reported | 29 (70.1%) | 12 (29.9%) | 0.276 | 0.68 (0.33–1.37) |
| Diagnoses | ||||
| Biliary tract infections | 19 (76.0%) | 6 (24%) | 0.849 | 0.91 (0.36–2.34) |
| Bone and joint infections | 12 (70.6%) | 5 (29.4%) | 0.553† | 0.69 (0.24–1.99) |
| Central nervous system infections | 9 (81.8%) | 2 (18.1%) | 1.000† | 1.31 (0.28–6.14) |
| Ear, nose and throat infections | 11 (73.3%) | 4 (26.7%) | 0.753† | 0.79 (0.25–2.53) |
| Gastrointestinal infections | 59 (73.8%) | 21 (26.3%) | 0.377 | 0.78 (0.45–1.35) |
| Neutropenic fever | 10 (100%) | 0 (0.00%) | 0.127† | N/A |
| No infectious disease | 1 (25.0%) | 3 (75.0%) | 0.037† | 0.09 (0.01–0.92) |
| Respiratory tract infections | 139 (82.2%) | 30 (17.8%) | 0.077 | 1.51 (0.95–2.39) |
| Sepsis | 19 (86.4%) | 3 (13.6%) | 0.436† | 1.87 (0.55–6.44) |
| Skin and soft tissue infections | 48 (81.4%) | 11 (18.6%) | 0.458 | 1.30 (0.65–2.58) |
| Suspected systemic infections without identified focus | 19 (76.0%) | 6 (24.0%) | 0.849 | 0.91 (0.36–2.34) |
| Urinary tract infections, prostatitis, epididimytis | 83 (73.5%) | 30 (26.6%) | 0.240 | 0.75 (0.47–1.21) |
| Other | 11 (68.8%) | 5 (31.3%) | 0.371† | 1.30 (0.21–1.84) |
| SIRS present | 199 (77.7%) | 57 (22.3%) | 0.923 | 1.02 (0.68–1.53) |
Note: The adequacy of treatment was compared against the individual variables with the Chi-squared test with odds ratio production
* Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test
† Fisher's Exact test