Risk factors associated with bacteremia with drug-resistant organisms: Review of blood culture results in emergency department of a regional hospital

Early antibiotic administration in sepsis improves patient survival. Treatment with antibiotics should cover potential pathogens and should avoid overusing broad-spectrum antibiotics. We have to identify patients who have high risks of infection with drug-resistant organisms. A retrospective cohort study was conducted to identify potential risk factors associated with bloodstream infections with drug-resistant organisms to help the choice of empirical antibiotics in the emergency department. Adult patients with bloodstream infection diagnosed by blood culture in the emergency department in the period of 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020 were included. Clinical features including chronic medical illnesses, clinical presentation and severity, and patients’ outcomes were identified in the electronic medical records. Bloodstream infection with drug-resistant organisms is defined as positive blood culture with bacteria resistant to either (1) amoxicillin/ clavulanic acid AND ceftriaxone or (2) amoxicillin/ clavulanic acid or ceftriaxone PLUS amikacin or levofloxacin. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to identify risk factors associated with the study outcome. Among 105 patients with bloodstream infection, 17% were caused by drug-resistant organisms. Multivariate analysis showed that age is a risk factor associated with bloodstream infection with drug-resistant organisms (odds ratio: 1.04, 95% confidence interval: 1.0–1.08, p = 0.03). In conclusion, age is a significant risk factor for drug-resistant bloodstream infection in emergency department patients. Further research may be needed to find out the relationship between frailty and infection with drug-resistant organisms.