Table 1.
Patient, Admission, and Febrile Neutropenia (FN) Episode Characteristicsa
| Characteristic | n (%) or Median (Q1, Q3) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-Intervention | Post-Intervention | ||
| (2009–2011) | (2013–2015) | P Valueb | |
| Patients | n = 285 | n = 309 | |
| Age at study entry (years) | 6.2 (3.1, 12.1) | 6.4 (3.2, 12.3) | .93 |
| Female gender | 135 (47) | 133 (43) | .29 |
| Race | .59 | ||
| White | 204 (72) | 216 (70) | … |
| Black/African American | 17 (6) | 12 (4) | … |
| Asian | 14 (5) | 22 (7) | … |
| Other | 7 (2) | 9 (3) | … |
| Unknown | 43 (15) | 50 (16) | … |
| Ethnicity | .13 | ||
| Hispanic/Latino | 33 (12) | 29 (9) | … |
| Not Hispanic/Latino | 203 (71) | 242 (78) | … |
| Unknown | 49 (17) | 38 (12) | … |
| Underlying oncologic diagnosis | .06 | ||
| Acute lymphoblastic leukemia | 112 (39) | 115 (37) | … |
| Acute myelogenous leukemia | 14 (5) | 26 (8) | … |
| Hodgkin lymphoma | 9 (3) | 8 (3) | … |
| Non-Hodgkin lymphoma | 15 (5) | 17 (6) | … |
| Acute promyelocytic leukemia | 8 (3) | 0 (0) | … |
| Otherc | 3 (1) | 2 (1) | … |
| Solid tumor | 124 (44) | 141 (46) | .18 |
| Central nervous system tumors | 33 (27) | 31 (22) | … |
| Neuroblastoma | 24 (20) | 31 (22) | … |
| Wilms renal tumor | 8 (7) | 6 (4) | … |
| Osteosarcoma | 16 (13) | 19 (14) | … |
| Ewing sarcoma | 4 (3) | 16 (12) | … |
| Other | 39 (31) | 38 (27) | … |
| Admissions per patient | 4 (2, 7) | 4 (2, 6) | .16 |
| Admissions with any FN episodes per patient | 2 (1, 3) | 2 (1, 3) | .30 |
| FN episodes per patient | 2 (1, 3) | 2 (1, 3) | .42 |
| Admissions | n = 1410 | n = 1356 | |
| Total patient days | 13 447 | 14 440 | … |
| Total central-line days (oncology units) | 30 982 | 36 439 | … |
| Length of stay (days) across all admissions | 4 (2, 8) | 4 (2, 8) | .63 |
| FN episode during admission | 657 (47) | 649 (48) | .51 |
| Length of stay (days) during admission with FN | 7 (4, 20) | 6 (3, 17) | .02 |
| FN episodes | n = 697 | n = 691 | |
| Total FN days | 6226 | 6273 | … |
| Episode length (days) | 6 (4, 9) | 5 (4, 9) | .20 |
| Admitting location | .71 | ||
| Oncology floor | 645 (93) | 643 (93) | … |
| Intensive care unit or Step-down unit | 52 (7) | 48 (7) | … |
Nineteen patients had FN episodes in both the pre- and post-intervention periods.
Abbreviation: FN, febrile neutropenia.
aN = 575 uniqe patients, 2766 admissions, 1388 FN episodes. Nineteen patients had FN episodes in both the pre- and post-intervention periods.
b P value from the χ2 test for categorical variables testing for difference in distribution by period; P value from the Wilcoxon rank sum test for continuous variables testing for difference in distribution by period.
cOther includes pre: 1 chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), 1 intermediate/gray zone lymphoma, 1 post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD); and post: 1 CML, 1 PTLD.