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Table 1 Characteristics of patients with bacteremia according to whether repeat cultures were obtained, and whether repeat cultures were persistently positive

From: Sending repeat cultures: is there a role in the management of bacteremic episodes? (SCRIBE study)

 

Overall cohort (n = 1801)

Subset with repeat blood cultures (n = 701)

 

No repeat cultures  (n = 1100)

Repeat cultures  (n = 701)

P

Cleared bacteremia  (n = 583)

Persistent bacteremia  (n = 118)

P

Male n(%)

576 (52.4)

442 (63.1)

<0.001

361 (61.9)

80 (67.8)

0.23

Age(y) median (IQR)

71 (56.5–82)

66 (51–77)

<0.001

65 (51–77)

68 (52–80)

0.26

Length of stay(d) median (IQR)

12 (5–30)

26 (12–48)

<0.001

26 (12–50)

25 (12–41)

0.59

Hospital-acquired n(%)

514 (46.7)

389 (55.5)

<0.001

333 (57.1)

55 (46.6)

0.036

Admitting service n(%)

      

 Medical

495 (45.0)

266 (37.9)

0.003

201 (34.5)

65 (55.1)

<0.001

 Surgical

390 (35.5)

310 (44.2)

<0.001

272 (46.7)

39 (33.1)

0.007

 Heme-Onc

215 (19.5)

125 (17.8)

0.36

110 (18.9)

14 (11.9)

0.07

Organism n(%)

      

 Total Gram-positive bacteria

425 (38.6)

457 (65.2)

<0.001

367 (63.0)

90 (76.3)

0.006

   S. aureus

97 (8.8)

162 (23.1)

<0.001

108 (18.5)

53 (44.9)

<0.001

  Skin commensals

62 (5.6)

114 (16.3)

<0.001

98 (16.8)

16 (13.6)

0.38

   Enterococcus spp.

110 (10.0)

102 (14.6)

0.004

82 (14.1)

20 (16.9)

0.42

   S. pneumoniae

22 (2.0)

11 (1.6)

0.506

11 (1.9)

0

0.13

  Viridans group streptococci

48 (4.4)

41 (5.9)

0.156

39 (6.7)

2 (1.7)

0.031

  β-hemolytic streptococci

46 (4.2)

23 (3.3)

0.33

23 (4.0)

0

0.021

   S. anginosus group

31 (2.8)

11 (1.6)

0.087

10 (1.7)

1 (0.9)

0.70

  Other Gram-positive bacteria

35 (3.2)

30 (4.3)

0.22

29 (5.0)

1 (0.9)

0.044

 Total Gram-negative bacteria

654 (59.4)

247 (35.2)

<0.001

220 (37.7)

27 (22.9)

0.002

   E. coli

329 (29.9)

90 (12.8)

<0.001

84 (14.4)

6 (5.1)

0.006

   Klebsiella spp.

143 (13.0)

43 (6.1)

<0.001

33 (5.7)

10 (8.5)

0.25

   Pseudomonas spp.

45 (4.1)

32 (4.6)

0.63

27 (4.6)

5 (4.2)

0.85

  AmpC-producers

102 (9.3)

59 (8.4)

0.54

53 (9.1)

6 (5.1)

0.15

  Other Gram-negative bacteria

69 (6.3)

39 (5.6)

0.54

35 (6.0)

4 (3.4)

0.26

 Anaerobes

86 (7.8)

34 (4.9)

0.014

32 (5.5)

2 (1.7)

0.1

Polymicrobial n(%)

107 (9.7)

75 (10.7)

0.51

66 (11.3)

9 (7.6)

0.24

Mortality n(%)

      

 2-day

97 (8.8)

-

-

-

-

-

 7-day

44 (4.0)

42 (6.0)

0.053

29 (5.0)

13 (11.0)

0.012

 30-day

123 (11.2)

189 (27.0)

<0.001

160 (27.4)

29 (24.6)

0.52

  1. NOTE: P values were calculated using the Chi square or Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables and Wilcoxon rank sum test for continuous variables. P value threshold for significance was <0.05 (statistically significant values are bolded). IQR interquartile range, Heme-Onc hematology-oncology in-patient ward. Skin commensals include coagulase-negative staphylococci, Bacillus spp., Diphtheroids. AmpC-producers include Serratia marcescens, Providencia stuartii, Proteus vulgaris, Citrobacter spp., Enterobacter spp., Morganella morganii