title: Association between Enterococcus bacteraemia and death in neutropenic patients with haematological malignancies.
abstract: Fatality rates and prognostic factors for mortality due to Enterococcus spp. bacteraemia have not yet been fully defined in the setting of neutropenic patients affected with haematological malignancies. We have performed a retrospective, multi-centre cohort study on 98 episodes of Enterococcus bacteraemia occurring in patients hospitalised from January 1984 to December 2001 at the oncohaematology units in two tertiary-care hospitals (Verona Hospital and Vicenza Hospital, in north-east Italy). E. faecalis was isolated in 52 cases (53%), E. faecium in 39 (39.8%), E. avium in four, E. durans in one, and untyped Enterococcus spp. in two other cases; vancomycin resistance was detected in 15 (15.3%) isolates. A global mortality rate of 41.8% (41/98 cases) was revealed; Enterococcus spp. bacteraemia was associated with a fatal outcome in 29/98 cases (29.5%). The following variables were independently associated with an increased risk of death by multivariate analysis of survival: age > or =50 years (OR 3.74; 95% CI 1.35-10.32), pneumonia (OR 4.70; 95% CI 1.67-13.20), and shock (OR 13.7; 95% CI 1.23-152.43), while the initial phase of haematological disease (responsive to chemotherapy) appeared to be protective (OR 0.23; 95% CI 0.008-0.64, P level 0.005); however, pneumonia alone (OR 7.2, 95% CI 2.52-20.88) was independently associated with fatal outcome by multivariate analysis for death related to enterococcal bacteraemia. In our experience, the poor outcome proper to enterococcal bacteraemia appears to be directly related to underlying disease, patient's age, presence of pneumonia and shock; in contrast, severe neutropaenia, antibiotic resistance, and species of Enterococcus do not appear to affect the fatality rate significantly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Haematology, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Todeschini
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tecchio
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Borghero
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Emilio
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pegoraro
authors.forename: Fausto
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: de Lalla
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Benedetti
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Spolaore
authors.forename: Giampietro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pellizzer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016983:Enterococcus / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D016908:Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality*; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009503:Neutropenia / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality*; D012307:Risk Factors