Table 1.
Characteristics of patients with bacteremia according to whether repeat cultures were obtained, and whether repeat cultures were persistently positive
| Overall cohort (n = 1801) | Subset with repeat blood cultures (n = 701) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No repeat cultures (n = 1100) | Repeat cultures (n = 701) | P | Cleared bacteremia (n = 583) | Persistent bacteremia (n = 118) | P | |
| Male n(%) | 576 (52.4) | 442 (63.1) | <0.001 | 361 (61.9) | 80 (67.8) | 0.23 |
| Age(y) median (IQR) | 71 (56.5–82) | 66 (51–77) | <0.001 | 65 (51–77) | 68 (52–80) | 0.26 |
| Length of stay(d) median (IQR) | 12 (5–30) | 26 (12–48) | <0.001 | 26 (12–50) | 25 (12–41) | 0.59 |
| Hospital-acquired n(%) | 514 (46.7) | 389 (55.5) | <0.001 | 333 (57.1) | 55 (46.6) | 0.036 |
| Admitting service n(%) | ||||||
| Medical | 495 (45.0) | 266 (37.9) | 0.003 | 201 (34.5) | 65 (55.1) | <0.001 |
| Surgical | 390 (35.5) | 310 (44.2) | <0.001 | 272 (46.7) | 39 (33.1) | 0.007 |
| Heme-Onc | 215 (19.5) | 125 (17.8) | 0.36 | 110 (18.9) | 14 (11.9) | 0.07 |
| Organism n(%) | ||||||
| Total Gram-positive bacteria | 425 (38.6) | 457 (65.2) | <0.001 | 367 (63.0) | 90 (76.3) | 0.006 |
| S. aureus | 97 (8.8) | 162 (23.1) | <0.001 | 108 (18.5) | 53 (44.9) | <0.001 |
| Skin commensals | 62 (5.6) | 114 (16.3) | <0.001 | 98 (16.8) | 16 (13.6) | 0.38 |
| Enterococcus spp. | 110 (10.0) | 102 (14.6) | 0.004 | 82 (14.1) | 20 (16.9) | 0.42 |
| S. pneumoniae | 22 (2.0) | 11 (1.6) | 0.506 | 11 (1.9) | 0 | 0.13 |
| Viridans group streptococci | 48 (4.4) | 41 (5.9) | 0.156 | 39 (6.7) | 2 (1.7) | 0.031 |
| β-hemolytic streptococci | 46 (4.2) | 23 (3.3) | 0.33 | 23 (4.0) | 0 | 0.021 |
| S. anginosus group | 31 (2.8) | 11 (1.6) | 0.087 | 10 (1.7) | 1 (0.9) | 0.70 |
| Other Gram-positive bacteria | 35 (3.2) | 30 (4.3) | 0.22 | 29 (5.0) | 1 (0.9) | 0.044 |
| Total Gram-negative bacteria | 654 (59.4) | 247 (35.2) | <0.001 | 220 (37.7) | 27 (22.9) | 0.002 |
| E. coli | 329 (29.9) | 90 (12.8) | <0.001 | 84 (14.4) | 6 (5.1) | 0.006 |
| Klebsiella spp. | 143 (13.0) | 43 (6.1) | <0.001 | 33 (5.7) | 10 (8.5) | 0.25 |
| Pseudomonas spp. | 45 (4.1) | 32 (4.6) | 0.63 | 27 (4.6) | 5 (4.2) | 0.85 |
| AmpC-producers | 102 (9.3) | 59 (8.4) | 0.54 | 53 (9.1) | 6 (5.1) | 0.15 |
| Other Gram-negative bacteria | 69 (6.3) | 39 (5.6) | 0.54 | 35 (6.0) | 4 (3.4) | 0.26 |
| Anaerobes | 86 (7.8) | 34 (4.9) | 0.014 | 32 (5.5) | 2 (1.7) | 0.1 |
| Polymicrobial n(%) | 107 (9.7) | 75 (10.7) | 0.51 | 66 (11.3) | 9 (7.6) | 0.24 |
| Mortality n(%) | ||||||
| 2-day | 97 (8.8) | - | - | - | - | - |
| 7-day | 44 (4.0) | 42 (6.0) | 0.053 | 29 (5.0) | 13 (11.0) | 0.012 |
| 30-day | 123 (11.2) | 189 (27.0) | <0.001 | 160 (27.4) | 29 (24.6) | 0.52 |
NOTE: P values were calculated using the Chi square or Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables and Wilcoxon rank sum test for continuous variables. P value threshold for significance was <0.05 (statistically significant values are bolded). IQR interquartile range, Heme-Onc hematology-oncology in-patient ward. Skin commensals include coagulase-negative staphylococci, Bacillus spp., Diphtheroids. AmpC-producers include Serratia marcescens, Providencia stuartii, Proteus vulgaris, Citrobacter spp., Enterobacter spp., Morganella morganii