The frequency, epidemiology and risk factors of bloodstream infections in febrile neutropenic patients with hematologic malignancies

Abstract

Aim: Bacteremia is considered as the most significant cause of mortality and morbidity in febrile neutropenic patients. The epidemiology and risk factors might differ among institutions and over the time period. The aim of this study is to evaluate the frequency, epidemiology and factors predictive of bacteremia in neutropenic patients in a university hospital in Ankara between November 2007 and November 2008.
 Material and Methods: 177 febrile neutropenic episodes of 115 patients with hematological malignancies were included in this study. Cases were defined as patients with bloodstream infection and controls were the patients without bloodstream infections. We evaluated the cases and controls for the risk factors, complications and mortality rates. Microorganisms isolated from blood samples and their susceptibility patterns were also analysed.
 Results: The prevalence of bacteremia was 61%, 42.6% of them were catheter related and mortality rate was 12.4%. Bloodstream infections are more common in the patients with uncontrolled underlying disease and long term severe neutropenia. Duration of severe neutropenia (neutrophile count