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Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology Publication Info

Article DOI: 10.1086/501624
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/501624
Enterococcal Bacteremia: Risk Factors for Vancomycin Resistance and Predictors of Mortality • 
Ebbing Lautenbach , MD, MPH, Warren B. Bilker , PhD and Patrick J. Brennan , MD
Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology , Vol. 20, No. 5 (May 1999), pp. 318-323
Article DOI: 10.1086/501624
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/501624
Original Articles

Enterococcal Bacteremia: Risk Factors for Vancomycin Resistance and Predictors of Mortality

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Abstract(back to top)

OBJECTIVE. To identify risk factors for vancomycin resistance and mortality in enterococcal bacteremia.

DESIGN. Historical cohort study.

SETTING. A large academic medical center with a high prevalence of vancomycin‐resistant enterococci (VRE).

PATIENTS. Two hundred sixty patients with enterococcal bacteremia, of whom 72 (28%) had VRE.

RESULTS. Independent risk factors for infection with VRE were the mean number of antibiotic days (P<.001), renal insufficiency (P<.001), mean days of vancomycin use (P=.005), and neutropenia (P=.013). A trend toward a significant association between metronidazole use and VRE also was noted (P=.068). Mortality was attributable to the bacteremia in 96 patients (37%). Severity of illness (P<.001) and age (P=.020) were independent risk factors for mortality. Vancomycin resistance was not, however, an independent predictor of mortality.

CONCLUSION. These results suggest that restrictions on antibiotic use, particularly in patients with renal insufficiency and neutropenia, may help to combat the rising incidence of VRE. Although patients with VRE bacteremia demonstrated higher mortality rates than patients with infection due to susceptible isolates, vancomycin resistance was not an independent predictor of mortality in these patients and likely serves more as a marker of underlying severity of illness.

Bibliographic Information(back to top)

  • Enterococcal Bacteremia: Risk Factors for Vancomycin Resistance and Predictors of Mortality
  • Ebbing Lautenbach , MD, MPH, Warren B. Bilker , PhD and Patrick J. Brennan , MD
  • Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology
  • Vol. 20, No. 5 (May 1999) (pp. 318-323)

Author Information(back to top)

Ebbing Lautenbach , MD, MPH; Warren B. Bilker , PhD; Patrick J. Brennan , MD

Notes and References(back to top)

This item contains 1 note(s).

Notes

From the Infectious Diseases Division, Department of Internal Medicine (Drs. Lautenbach and Brennan), and the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology (Dr. Bilker), Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The authors thank Harvey M. Friedman, MD, and Paul H. Edelstein, MD, for their assistance in reviewing the manuscript.This work was presented in part at the Seventh Annual Meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, St Louis, Missouri, April 27‐29, 1997.Address reprint requests to Patrick J. Brennan, MD, Infectious Diseases Division, 9 Gates Bldg, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce St, Philadelphia, PA 19104.97‐OA‐157. Lautenbach E, Bilker WB, Brennan PJ. Enterococcal bacteremia: risk factors for vancomycin resistance and predictors of mortality. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1999;20:318‐323.

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© 1999 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved.