title: Severity of human non-typhoid salmonellosis as a predictor of short- and long-term mortality.
abstract: We hypothesized that severity of human non-typhoid Salmonella (NTS) infection was a marker of 0-30 and 31-365-d mortality. All patients with first-time detection of NTS in stool specimens in North Jutland County, Denmark, 1995-2003, were categorized into 4 groups. Group 1 was not hospitalized in relation to their NTS infection, group 2 was hospitalized without sampling of blood cultures, group 3 was hospitalized with blood cultures obtained in which pathogenic micro-organisms were not detected, and group 4 had blood culture-proven bacteraemia. Among 1764 NTS patients, 2 of 1082 (0.2%) in group 1, 14 of 344 (4.1%) in group 2, 20 of 248 (8.1%) in group 3, and 19 of 90 (21.1%) in group 4 died within 365 d. Using group 2 as reference, age and comorbidity adjusted 0-30-d mortality rate ratios (MRR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) could not be computed for group 1 (no deaths), while they were 1.8 (0.6-5.5) for group 3 and 1.4 (0.4-4.9) for group 4. For the 31-365-d period, MRR (95% CI) were 0.16 (0.03-0.8), 1.6 (0.7-3.7), and 2.5 (1.1-5.8), respectively, for the 3 groups. Severity of NTS infection was an age- and comorbidity-independent short- and long-term prognostic marker of mortality.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Infectious Diseases, Aarhus University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark. kog@rn.dk
authors.forename: Kim O
authors.initials: KO
authors.lastname: Gradel
authors.forename: Henrik C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Schønheyder
authors.forename: Søren
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lundbye-Christensen
authors.forename: Tove
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ejlertsen
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nielsen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019963:Clinical Chemistry Tests; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D006403:Hematologic Tests; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008498:Medical Record Linkage; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012480:Salmonella Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index