61%+ of patients with multidrug-resistant infections readmitted once or more within a year

Anuja Vaidya -

A study, published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, examined the incidence of and risk factors for readmissions among patients with multidrug-resistant organism infections.

Researchers studied a cohort of patients admitted between Jan. 1, 2006, and Oct. 1, 2015, to St. Louis-based Barnes-Jewish Hospital. They identified patients with multidrug-resistant organisms obtained from the bloodstream, bronchoalveolar lavage and bronchial wash or other sterile sites. They examined all readmissions within one year of the patient's initial hospitalization for multidrug-resistant infections. They evaluated bloodstream, BAL and bronchial wash or other sterile site cultures positive for the same or different organisms.

Of 4,429 unique patients with a positive culture for a multidrug-resistant organism, 78 percent survived the initial hospitalization. Researchers found that 61.6 percent were readmitted at least one time within a year, for a total of 5,849 readmissions. Additionally, 24.1 percent of patients had the same or a different multidrug-resistant organism isolated from blood, BAL and bronchial wash or another sterile site during a readmission.

The following factors during index hospitalization were associated with increased risk of having a multidrug-resistant isolated during a readmission:

• Bone marrow transplant
• End-stage renal disease
• Lymphoma
• Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
• Carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa

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