TABLE 2.
Characteristics of 1,200 Enrolled Patients
| Variable | Value | |
|---|---|---|
| Age, mean (SD), y | 61.9 | 18 |
| ICU admission | 366 | (30.5) |
| LOS, mean (SD), d | 14.7 | 22.9 |
| History of antibiotic allergies on admission | 311 | (25.9) |
| Beta-lactam allergy | 220 | (18.3) |
| Received antibiotics within previous 30 d | 300 | (25.0) |
| Severely immune-compromised | 150 | (12.5) |
| Chemotherapy | 82 | (6.8) |
| Solid organ transplant | 31 | (2.6) |
| AIDSa | 9 | (0.7) |
| Bone marrow transplant | 8 | (0.7) |
| Otherb | 33 | (2.7) |
| Charlson Comorbidity Indexc | ||
| No comorbidities (0) | 692 | (57.7) |
| Mild (1–5) | 224 | (18.7) |
| Severe (>5) | 284 | (23.7) |
| McCabe-Jackson scored | ||
| Good prognosis | 664 | (55.3) |
| Poor long-term prognosis (>6 mo) | 355 | (29.6) |
| Poor short-term prognosis (<6 mo) | 123 | (10.3) |
| Death expected during hospitalization | 58 | (4.8) |
NOTE. Data are no. (%) of patients unless otherwise indicated. ICU, intensive care unit; LOS, length of stay; PD, patient-days.
AIDS defined as human immunodeficiency virus with CD4 count <200 cells/mL.
Other conditions deemed as severe immunosuppression: 12 cases of blood cancers or other chronic or acute oncohematological conditions, 9 cases of cystic fibrosis, 2 cases of long-term steroid use for autoimmune disorders.
The Charlson Comorbidity Index is a weighted measure of the presence of 22 chronic conditions.27 Up to 5 International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, codes per patient were recorded with chief complaints and infectious syndromes given a priority; The index was calculated during analysis using the user-written CHARLSON add-on module in Stata, version 11.
Assigned patients into 1 of 4 categories based on judgment of how clinical information on admission predicted likelihood of survival and recovery. We used a modified version of the severity of illness score validated in Fernandez et al.28