Table 2.
Characteristics of infected patients according to the type of malignancy
|
No cancer (n = 960) |
Solid tumours (n = 168) |
Haematological cancer (n = 49) |
|
| Criteria for infection | |||
| Clinically suspected | 750 (78.1%) | 136 (81%) | 38 (77.6%) |
| Microbiologically confirmed | 666 (69.4%) | 114 (67.9%) | 34 (69.5%) |
| Clinical signs and micro-organism | 383 (39.9%) | 71 (42.5%) | 14 (28.6%) |
| Source of infection | |||
| Respiratory | 648 (67.5%) | 108 (64.3%) | 38 (77.6%) |
| Abdominal | 200 (20.8%) | 56 (33.3%)$ | 7 (14.3%) |
| Blood stream | 196 (20.4%) | 26 (15.5%) | 16 (32.7)* |
| Skin | 132 (13.8%) | 23 (13.7%) | 3 (6.1%) |
| Urinary | 133 (13.9%) | 22 (13.1%) | 4 (8.2%) |
| Catheter | 87 (9.1%) | 18 (10.7%) | 6 (12.2%) |
| Cerebrospinal fluid | 15 (1.6%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Unknown | 53 (5.5%) | 7 (4.1%) | 3 (6.1%) |
| Gram-positive bacteria | |||
| Streptococcus group D | 97 (10.1%) | 21 (12.5%) | 5 (10.2%) |
| Streptococcus pneumoniae | 42 (4.3%) | 3 (1.7%) | 1 (2.0%) |
| MRSA | 131 (13.6%) | 28 (16.6%) | 5 (10.2%) |
| Other cocci | 20 (2.1%) | 3 (1.8%) | 0 |
| Gram-negative bacteria | |||
| Pseudomonas | 132 (13.7%) | 21 (12.5%) | 10 (20.4%) |
| Escherichia coli | 114 (11.8%) | 34 (20.2%)$ | 10 (20.4%)* |
| Enterobacter | 53 (5.5%) | 13 (7.7%) | 1 (2.0%) |
| Klebsiella | 60 (6.2%) | 11 (6.5%) | 0 |
| Proteus | 39 (4.0%) | 9 (5.3%) | 1 (2.0%) |
| Acinetobacter | 37 (3.8%) | 3 (1.7%) | 2 (4.0%) |
| Haemophilus | 33 (2.4%) | 3 (1.8%) | 1 (2.0%) |
| Fungi | |||
| Candida albicans | 125 (13%) | 28 (16.7%) | 3 (6.1%) |
| Candida non-albicans | 37 (3.9%) | 9 (5.4%) | 3 (6.1%) |
| Other fungi | 13 (1.3%) | 3 (1.7%) | 1 (2.0%) |
MRSA: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. *p < 0.05 versus no-cancer group; $ p < 0.001 versus no-cancer group. Data are presented as number (percentage).