Short-term mortality in relation to age and comorbidity in older adults with community-acquired bacteremia: a population-based cohort study.
OBJECTIVE
To assess 30-day mortality from bacteremia in relation to age and comorbidity and the association between age and mortality with increasing comorbidity.


METHODS
Population-based cohort study.


METHODS
North Jutland County, Denmark.


METHODS
Adults in medical wards with community-acquired bacteremia, 1995 to 2004.


METHODS
Smoothed mortality curves and computed mortality rate ratios (MRRs) using Cox regression analysis.


RESULTS
Two thousand eight hundred fifty-one patients, 851 aged 15 to 64, 1,092 aged 65 to 79, and 909 aged 80 and older were included. Mortality increased linearly with age. Compared with patients younger than 65, adjusted MRRs in patients aged 65 to 79 and 80 and older were 1.5 (95% confidence interval (CI)=1.2-2.0) and 1.8 (95% CI=1.4-2.3), respectively. Mortality also increased with level of comorbidity. Compared with patients with low comorbidity, adjusted MRRs in patients with medium and high comorbidity were 1.5 (95% CI=1.2-1.8) and 1.7 (95% CI=1.4-2.2), respectively. Regardless of the level of comorbidity, MRRs were consistently higher in older than in younger patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Older age and greater comorbidity predicted mortality, and increasing age-related comorbidity did not explain the effect of age.
Søgaard
Mette
M
Department of Clinical Microbiology, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark. mette.soegaard@rn.dk
Schønheyder
Henrik C
HC
Riis
Anders
A
Sørensen
Henrik T
HT
Nørgaard
Mette
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000401:mortality*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000401:mortality*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003718:Denmark; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000401:mortality; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000401:mortality; D012016:Reference Values; D012042:Registries; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000401:mortality; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000401:mortality; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000401:mortality; D055815:Young Adult