Empirical use of antibiotics and adjustment of empirical antibiotic therapies in a university hospital: a prospective observational study

Table 1 Characteristics of the 539 included patients.

Characteristic	Number of patients (n = 539)	Percentage of all patients
Males	297	55.1%
Age in years (median; range)	69 [17–100]
17 to 40 years	96	17.8%
41 to 60 years	104	19.3%
More than 60 years	339	62.9%
Ward ^a
Medicine and geriatrics	359	66.6%
Surgery	173	32.1%
Medical intensive care	25	4.6%
Surgical intensive care	10	1.9%
Neurology	4	0.7%
Main infectious disease diagnosis upon admission
Respiratory tract infections	169	31.4%
Urinary tract infections, prostatitis, epididimytis	113	21.0%
Gastrointestinal infections ^b	81	15.0%
Skin and soft tissue infections	42	7.8%
Biliary tract infections	25	4.6%
Suspected systemic infections without identified focus ^c	25	4.6%
Sepsis ^d	22	4.1%
Bone and joint infections	17	3.2%
Ear, nose and throat infections	15	2.8%
Central nervous system infections	11	2.0%
Neutropenic fever	10	1.9%
Other	5	0.9%
No infectious disease diagnosis	4	0.7%
Total number of patients with SIRS ^e	256	47.5%
Charlson comorbidity index [15] (mean +/-SD)	2.4 (+/- 2.3)
McCabe index [16] - not fatal	443	82.2%
McCabe index - fatal < 5 years	64	11.9%
McCabe index - fatal < 6 months	32	5.9%
Died in hospital	31	5.8%

^a If patients were on more than one ward, each ward was counted separately.
^b Includes gastroenteritis, diverticulitis, peritonitis, enterocolitis, appendicitis, abdominal abscess, acute abdomen.
^c These patients did not meet the criteria of the sepsis definition.
^d Sepsis: defined as clinical evidence of infection, plus SIRS^e.
^e Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS): includes two or more of the following: temperature > 38°C or < 36°C, heart rate > 90 beats per minute, leukocytes > 12,000/μL or < 4,000/μL (band forms were not routinely determined and were therefore not considered), respiratory rate > 20 per minute.

ISSN: 1471-2334