Students wanted further education on antibiotic prescribing, and areas of lack of confidence were found. Students overestimated the current burden of resistant bacteria and were unaware of successes in reducing MRSA infections. Educational and stewardship programmes may benefit from including more cases of diagnostic uncertainty, and highlighting successes such as MRSA prevention, as evidence for the importance of current interventions.

To estimate the proportion of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates from humans that were sequence type (ST) 398, we surveyed 24 laboratories in 17 countries in Europe in 2007. Livestock-associated MRSA ST398 accounted for only a small proportion of MRSA isolates from humans; most were from the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and Austria.

Objective To determine predictors of in-hospital mortality related to COVID-19 in older patients. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting and Participants Patients aged 65 years and older hospitalized for a diagnosis of COVID-19. Methods Data from hospital admission was collected from the electronic medical records. Logistic regression and Cox proportional-hazard models were used to predict mortality, our primary outcome. Variables at hospital admission were categorized according to the following domains: demographics, clinical history, comorbidities, previous treatment, clinical status, vital signs, clinical scales and scores, routine laboratory analysis and imaging results. Results Of a total of 235 Caucasian patients, 43% were male, with a mean age of 86 ± 6.5 years. Seventy-six patients (32%) died. Non-survivors had a shorter number of days from initial symptoms to hospitalization (p=0.007) and the length of stay in acute wards than survivors (p<0.001). Similarly, they had a higher prevalence of heart failure (p=0.044), peripheral artery disease (p=0.009), crackles at clinical status (p<0.001), respiratory rate (p=0.005), oxygen support needs (p<0.001), C-reactive protein (p<0.001), bilateral and peripheral infiltrates on chest radiographs (p=0.001) and a lower prevalence of headache (p=0.009). Furthermore, non-survivors were more often frail (p<0.001), with worse functional status (p<0.001), higher comorbidity burden (p<0.001) and delirium at admission (p=0.007). A multivariable Cox model showed that male sex (HR 4.00, 95% CI 2.08-7.71, p=0.0001), increased fraction of inspired oxygen (HR 1.06, 95% CI 1.03-1.09, p<0.0001) and crackles (HR 2.42, 95% CI 1.15-6.06, p=0.0190) were the best predictors of mortality, while better functional status was protective (HR 0.98, 95% CI 0.97-0.99, p=0.0013). Conclusions and implications In older patients hospitalized for COVID-19 male sex, crackles, a higher fraction of inspired oxygen and functionality were independent risk factors of mortality. These routine parameters, and not differences in age, should be used to evaluate prognosis in older patients.

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