Corticosteroids influence the mortality and morbidity of acute critical illness

Table 3 Microbiological characteristics of the study cohort

	Control group (n = 7,626)	Corticosteroid exposure group (n = 2,632)	P
Microbiology
Number of patients with cultures	3,185 (42)	1,764 (67)	0.0001
Infection confirmed	1,785 (23)	1,215 (46)	0.0001
Location of infection	n = 1,785	n = 1,215
Pulmonary	578 (32)	489 (40)	0.0001
Abdomen	197 (11)	147 (12)	0.4
Genital–urinary tract	703 (39)	425 (35)	0.02
Bloodstream	500 (28)	376 (31)	0.09
Soft tissue	165 (9)	90 (7)	0.08
Vascular catheters	156 (9)	158 (13)	0.0002
Skeletal	54 (3)	24 (2)	0.08
Central nervous system	46 (3)	47 (4)	0.05
Head and neck	17 (1)	21 (2)	0.07
Other	16 (1)	9 (1)	0.7
Temporal characteristics	n = 1,785	n = 1,215
Infection episode ≤ 2 days after admission	1,228 (69)	820 (67)	0.5
Infection episode >2 days after admission	883 (49)	669 (55)	0.003
Recurrent infection^a	633 (35)	521 (43)	0.0001
Day of last infection episode during a hospital stay	2 (0–13)	3 (0–19)	0.003
Interval between first and last infection episodes (days)	0 (0–10)	0 (0–15)	0.0001
Interval between first and last infection episodes >2 days	434 (24)	402 (33)	0.0001
Types of microorganisms (culture or microscopy)	n = 1,785	n = 1,215
Bacterial
Gram-positive cocci	1,255 (70)	903 (74)	0.02
Gram-negative bacilli	744 (42)	487 (40)	0.4
Other types of bacilli^b	299 (17)	221 (18)	0.3
Anaerobes^c	182 (10)	112 (9)	0.4
Gram-negative cocci	66 (4)	38 (3)	0.4
Fungal	404(23)	508 (42)	0.0001
Number of types of microorganisms per location	1 (1–4)	2 (1–6)	0.0001
Polymicrobial infection^d	838 (47)	683 (56)	0.0001

Data presented as median (10–90% percentiles) or actual numbers (percentage). Cultures included blood, sputum, urine, normally sterile body fluid or tissue. ^aTwo or more infection episodes during a hospital stay. ^blisteria, Corynebacteria, Actinomyces, bacilli Sp., Legionella and Mycobacterial species; ^cClostridia, Bacteroids, Peptostreptococci, and Peptococci species.. ^dTwo or more types of organisms present at the same location site of infection.

ISSN: 1364-8535