Mortality related to coagulase-negative staphylococcal bacteremia in febrile neutropenia: A cohort study

BACKGROUND:

Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) are currently the most common isolates recovered from the blood of patients with cancer and febrile neutropenia (FN).

OBJECTIVES:

To assess the mortality associated with bloodstream infections (BSIs) caused by CoNS in cancer patients with FN.

METHODS:

A prospective cohort study was conducted in a single tertiary hospital from October 2009 to August 2011. Follow-ups were performed on all of the adult patients who were admitted to the hematology ward with cancer and FN. Bacteremia caused by CoNS was defined as two positive results of two independent cultures. Twenty-eight days after the onset of FN, the mortality rates of the patients with BSIs caused by CoNS were compared with those of patients with BSIs caused by other pathogens.

RESULTS:

A total of 169 subjects were evaluated. During the study period, 78 patients with BSIs were documented. Twenty-three BSIs (29.4%) were a result of CoNS. CoNS-induced bacteremia resulted in lower 28-day mortality compared with bacteremia caused by other pathogens (4.3% versus 32.7%; log-rank P=0.009). In a Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, BSIs caused by CoNS were independently associated with lower mortality (HR 0.09 [95% CI 0.01 to 0.74]).

CONCLUSIONS:

In adult patients with cancer and FN, BSIs caused by CoNS were associated with lower mortality compared with BSIs caused by other pathogens.