title: Clinical features and outcomes of Staphylococcus aureus infections in non-neutropenic cancer patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study was performed to evaluate the clinical features and outcomes of Staphylococcus aureus infection in non-neutropenic cancer patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  From the database of a surveillance study for S. aureus infections, the data regarding S. aureus infections in non-neutropenic cancer patients were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 649 non-neutropenic cancer patients with S. aureus infections, 156 (24.0%) had a central venous catheter and 176 (27.1%) had an indwelling urinary catheter. The prevalence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) infections was 54.7% (355 out of 649). As for types of infection, skin and soft tissue infections were the most common (n = 173, 26.7%), followed by pneumonia (n = 165, 25.4%) and primary bacteremia (n = 91; 14.0%). Overall, the 30-day mortality rate was 28.2% (124 out of 440), 34.1% (73 out of 214) in MRSA group, and 22.6% (51 out of 226) in methicillin-sensitive S. aureus group (P = 0.007). When outcomes according to the types of infection were evaluated, the mortality rates were 49.5% (53 out of 107) for pneumonia and 41.2% (49 out of 119) for bacteremia. Multivariate analysis showed that pneumonia, concomitant bacteremia, comorbid liver disease, and intubated state with ICU care were independent risk factors associated with 30-day mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study demonstrated that S. aureus infections in cancer patients are serious clinical conditions with high mortality rates, even in non-neutropenic patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Irwon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-710, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Cheol-In
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Jae-Hoon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Kwan Soo
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Doo Ryeon
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Kyong Ran
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Peck
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D015897:Comorbidity; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009503:Neutropenia / Q000453:epidemiology; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D018461:Soft Tissue Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D015996:Survival Rate