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Abstract
We studied 233 consecutive episodes of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia in 230 patients between 1980 and 1984 at a community teaching hospital. Bacteremia was community-acquired in 78 episodes, acquired from nursing homes in 22 episodes and hospital-acquired in 133 episodes. The over-all mortality was 48.9%. Patients >60 years had higher mortality (62.0%) than patients <60 years old (25.3%). Hospital-acquired bacteremia was associated with a higher mortality (59.4%) than community-acquired bacteremia (29.5%). The respiratory tract as the portal of entry of bacteremia was associated with a higher mortality (80.4%), as compared to 53.5% when the portal of entry was undetermined, and 28.1% when the portal of entry was other sources. Increasing serum creatinine levels were associated with increasing mortality: <88.4 μmol/l (26.5%), 97.2–168.0 μmol/1 (51.1%), and > 176.8 μmol/l (67.9%). Increasing serum bilirubin levels were also associated with increasing mortality: <17.1 μmol/l (40.6%), 18.8–49.6 μmol/l (57.1%), and >51.3 μmol/l (84.2%). Very high leukocyte counts were associated with higher mortality: >20±109/l (73.9%), 10–20±109/l (37.4%), and <10±109/l (45.8%).