Table 1.
Characteristics of patients with sepsis with and without cancer, 2003–2014
| Characteristic | Solid Cancer* |
Hematologic Cancer* |
No Cancer |
|---|---|---|---|
| (n = 4,623) | (n = 2,866) | (n = 13,486) | |
| Age, yr, median (IQR) | 64 (55–72) | 58 (46–66) | 62 (49–74) |
| Male sex, n (%) | 2,519 (54.5) | 1,678 (58.6) | 7,381 (54.7) |
| Race | |||
| White, n (%) | 3,725 (80.6) | 2,472 (86.3) | 9,718 (72.1) |
| Black, n (%) | 365 (7.9) | 115 (4.0) | 1,641 (12.2) |
| Other, n (%) | 533 (11.5) | 279 (9.7) | 2,127 (15.8) |
| Comorbidities (Elixhauser) | |||
| Chronic lung disease, n (%) | 517 (11.2) | 182 (6.4) | 1,960 (14.5) |
| Congestive heart failure, n (%) | 492 (10.6) | 299 (10.4) | 3,560 (26.4) |
| Diabetes, n (%) | 431 (9.3) | 184 (6.4) | 2,090 (15.5) |
| Liver disease, n (%) | 179 (3.9) | 79 (2.8) | 709 (5.3) |
| Neurologic disease, n (%) | 245 (5.3) | 97 (3.4) | 1,334 (9.9) |
| Renal failure, n (%) | 304 (6.6) | 181 (6.3) | 1,739 (12.9) |
| Median Elixhauser score (IQR) | 17 (11–25) | 11 (5–17) | 11 (3–17) |
| Hospital-onset sepsis, n (%) | 1,686 (36.5) | 1,469 (51.3) | 4,353 (32.3) |
| Organ dysfunction at sepsis onset, n (%) | |||
| Vasopressors | 2,221 (47.8) | 1,093 (38.1) | 7,972 (59.1) |
| Mechanical ventilation | 1,568 (33.9) | 780 (27.2) | 6,358 (47.2) |
| Creatinine or eGFR | 2,157 (46.7) | 1,330 (46.4) | 5,993 (44.4) |
| Bilirubin | 1,135 (24.6) | 1,366 (47.7) | 2,625 (19.5) |
| Platelet | 794 (17.2) | 758 (26.5) | 2,686 (19.9) |
| WBC <1 × 109/L at sepsis onset, n (%) | 184 (4.0) | 884 (30.8) | 165 (1.2) |
| Infectious syndromes, n (%) | |||
| Pulmonary | 1,819 (39.4) | 1,146 (40.0) | 6,196 (45.9) |
| Urinary | 777 (16.8) | 319 (11.1) | 2,675 (19.8) |
| Intra-abdominal | 959 (20.7) | 400 (14.0) | 1,823 (13.5) |
| Skin/soft tissue | 236 (5.1) | 193 (6.7) | 910 (6.8) |
| Septicemia | 1,787 (38.7) | 1,230 (42.9) | 5,261 (39.0) |
| Bone/joint | 53 (1.2) | 31 (1.1) | 455 (3.4) |
| Central nervous system | 65 (1.4) | 53 (1.9) | 368 (2.7) |
| Obstetric/gynecologic | 13 (0.3) | 6 (0.2) | 104 (0.8) |
| Other | 920 (19.9) | 910 (31.8) | 3,191 (23.7) |
| Unknown source | 816 (17.7) | 552 (19.3) | 2,112 (15.7) |
| Positive blood cultures, n (%)† | 746 (16.1) | 618 (21.6) | 2,012 (14.9) |
| Gram-positive organism, n (%) | 413 (8.9) | 365 (12.7) | 1,274 (9.4) |
| Gram-negative organism, n (%) | 372 (8.0) | 286 (10.0) | 808 (6.0) |
| Fungal organism, n (%) | 75 (1.6) | 66 (2.3) | 205 (1.5) |
| Required ICU admission, n (%) | 2,505 (54.2) | 1,180 (41.2) | 8.623 (64.9) |
| Median hospital LOS, d, n (%) | 12 (7–21) | 21 (10–33) | 14 (8–24) |
| Discharge disposition, n (%) | |||
| Home | 1,692 (36.6) | 1,441 (50.3) | 4,516 (33.5) |
| Facility | 1,371 (29.7) | 528 (18.4) | 5,854 (43.4) |
| Hospice | 242 (5.2) | 70 (2.4) | 124 (0.9) |
| In-hospital death | 1,305 (28.2) | 825 (28.8) | 2,959 (21.9) |
Definition of abbreviations: eGFR = estimated glomerular filtration rate; ICU = intensive care unit; IQR = interquartile range; LOS = length of stay; WBC = white blood cell.
*
Patients with both hematologic and solid malignancies were categorized as having a solid cancer if they had solid tumor metastases (n = 73); otherwise they were categorized as having a hematologic malignancy (n = 286).
†
Positive blood cultures include any blood culture taken during a sepsis hospitalization. Some patients had multiple organisms isolated.