Table 2.

Preceding Healthcare Encounters, Tests, Blood Bank Utilization and Systemic Antibiotic Administration (N = 11,183 cultures)

	Negative	Positive	P*
N	10,559	624
Location where Culture Obtained			< 0.001
Clinic	1346 (12.7)	62 (9.9)
Emergency Department	4877 (46.2)	219 (35.1)
Intensive Care Unit	329 (3.1)	9 (1.4)
Hospital Ward	4007 (37.9)	334 (53.5)
Healthcare Encounters within 28 Days
Mean Number Emergency Department Visits (SD)	0.35 (0.62)	0.28 (0.54)	0.006
Mean Number Admissions (SD)	0.53 (0.71)	0.57 (0.67)	0.178
Mean All Encounters (SD)	3.95 (3.32)	3.86 (3.06)	0.474
Tests Performed within 28 Days
Mean Pathology Specimens (SD)	0.24 (0.77)	0.39 (1.04)	< 0.001
Mean Radiology Tests (SD)	1.12 (2.07)	1.37 (2.14)	0.003
Blood Bank Utilization within 7 Days
Mean Platelet Transfusions (SD)	0.40 (1.20)	1.15 (1.78)	< 0.001
Mean Red Cell Transfusions (SD)	0.28 (0.80)	0.53 (0.91)	< 0.001
Previous Positive Blood Cultures 7–365 Days
Mean Positive Cultures (SD)	0.65 (1.95)	1.18 (2.22)	< 0.001
Systemic Antibiotics within 7 Days
FN Antibiotics One Day Prior (%)	273 (2.6)	11 (1.8)	0.255
FN Antibiotics Two Days Prior (%)	250 (2.4)	14 (2.2)	0.950
Mean Days FN Antibiotics (SD)	0.24 (0.86)	0.35 (0.94)	0.001
Antifungal One Day Prior (%)	1008 (9.5)	210 (33.7)	< 0.001
Antifungal Two Days Prior (%)	936 (8.9)	208 (33.3)	< 0.001
Mean Days Antifungal (SD)	0.56 (1.56)	1.94 (2.56)	< 0.001
Levofloxacin One Day Prior (%)	36 (0.3)	8 (1.3)	0.001
Levofloxacin Two Days Prior (%)	45 (0.4)	5 (0.8)	0.291
Mean Days Levofloxacin (SD)	0.02 (0.25)	0.08 (0.50)	< 0.001
Caspofungin One Day Prior (%)	380 (3.6)	55 (8.8)	< 0.001
Caspofungin Two Days Prior (%)	349 (3.3)	56 (9.0)	< 0.001
Mean Days Caspofungin (SD)	0.22 (1.01)	0.56 (1.58)	< 0.001

Abbreviations: SD Standard deviation, FN Fever and neutropenia

*P values calculated using Student’s t-test for continuous variables and chi square test for categorical variables