title: Risk factors for hospital-acquired bacteremia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Bacteremia is one of the most serious health problems associated with high morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for bacteremia in daily medical care to facilitate rapid and accurate clinical decisions about treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 306 inpatients retrospectively. Age, peripheral neutrophil count, C-reactive protein (CRP), platelets, serum total cholesterol, total protein, albumin and cholinesterase were compared in patients with positive- and negative-blood cultures. The associations between blood culture positivity and glucose tolerance, bedridden state, presence of a central venous catheter (CVC) or urinary catheter were examined. On October 14, 2002, strategies for prevention of catheter-related infection were altered in our hospital. We studied the impact of these changes on the risk of bacteremia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-seven patients had positive and 239 had negative blood cultures. Age, neutrophil, platelets, total protein, albumin, and cholinesterase were significantly different between the culture-positive patients and the culture-negative patients. Multivariate analysis showed albumin and platelets as independent predictors. The bedridden state and catheter-inserted states (central venous or urinary) conferred significantly higher positive blood culture rates. Multivariate analysis showed using urinary catheters and indwelling femoral CVCs as independent risk factors. There was no significant difference in the blood culture-positive rate before and after the change in prevention strategies; before the change, 6 of 9 catheter-inserted blood culture-positive cases yielded MRSA, while 4 of 12 cultures yielded Staphylococcus epidermidis after the change.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study highlights the risk factors of bacteremia in vulnerable patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Azumi General Hospital, Nagano.
authors.forename: Takuhiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsushima
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsuchiya
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nishikawa
authors.forename: Kumiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shirahata
authors.forename: Kazuma
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: Ken-Ichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Hirotaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: Shin-Ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: Toshiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Keishi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: Shu-Ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ikeda
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D002405:Catheterization, Central Venous / Q000009:adverse effects; D002408:Catheters, Indwelling / Q000382:microbiology; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016905:Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010976:Platelet Count; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000378:metabolism; D014546:Urinary Catheterization / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D012709:Serum Albumin