This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
A. baumannii colonization upon ICU admission increases likelihood of infection, mortality
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
ICU patients colonized with Acinetobacter baumannii upon admission were more likely to develop subsequent positive clinical cultures for the bacterium and die during their hospital stay, according to findings from a retrospective cohort analysis.
The results were presented at the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) spring conference.
Natalia Blanco, PhD, MPH, of the department of epidemiology and public health at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and colleagues examined data on 8,226 patients admitted to the medical intensive care unit (MICU) and surgical intensive care unit (SICU) at the University of Maryland Medical Center from May 2005 to September 2009 to investigate the incidence of A. baumannii colonization, as well as risk factors and patient outcomes.
The researchers identified 425 patients (5.2%) who were colonized with A. baumannii at admission. Among them, 76% had multidrug-resistant strains. Risk factors for being positive for A. baumannii included admission to the MICU (P < .001) and previous admission to the hospital in the prior year (P = .005).
More than 28% of colonized patients had at least one clinical culture that was positive for A. baumannii while they were in the hospital, and 20% had a positive clinical culture after admission to the ICU. Those who were colonized upon admission were 3 times more likely to develop a subsequent positive clinical culture for A. baumannii while in the hospital (P < .001) and were 1.4 times more likely to die during the concurrent admission (P = .006) compared with patients who had negative findings for A. baumannii upon admission, the researchers reported.
“These results demonstrate that Acinetobacter baumannii colonization is a marker of patient severity and likelihood of developing a clinical infection with this pathogen or dying during hospitalization,” Blanco told Infections Disease News. “Active surveillance of this pathogen could potentially inform both infection prevention decisions and empiric antibiotic utilization.” – by Stephanie Viguers
Reference:
Blanco N, et al. Acinetobacter baumanii Colonization Upon ICU-Admission and its Implications on Hospitalization. Presented at: Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) spring conference; March 29-31; St. Louis.
Disclosures: Blanco reports no relevant financial disclosures.