[Epidemiological features of community- and nosocomial-acquired bacteremia in the hospitalized elderly patients].
OBJECTIVES: To analyze the epidemiology and to identify associated factors for community- and nosocomial-acquired bacteremia in the elderly (BE). PATIENT AND METHODS: Elderly patients diagnosed of bacteremia were selected. Community- or acquired-bacteremia were defined according to standard criteria. The severity of underlying diseases was classified as non-fatal, ultimately fatal, or rapidly fatal, according to McCabe-Jackson criteria. Multivariate analysis by logistic regression was used to identify associated factors to bacteremia. RESULTS: Two hundred and forty-two cases of BE were selected. The mean age was 72.5 years, 50% occurred in males. One hundred and thirty cases (53.7%) were community-acquired and 112 (46.3%) cases were nosocomial-acquired BE. Most common underlying diseases were diabetes mellitus (30.6%%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (25.6%) and neoplasia (24%). Gram-negative bacteria were more frequently isolated in community-acquired BE, while gram-positive cocci were more common in nosocomial-acquired BE. Sources of infection were: vascular (19%), respiratory tract (18.6%), biliary tract (17.8%) and urinary tract (8.3%). The factors associated with nosocomial-acquired BE were (adjusted OR; 95%CI): underlying diseases (5.4; 2.7-10.8), neoplasia (2.5; 1.3-4.9) and vascular origin (2.2; 1.1-4.5). Fifty-two patients died (23.1%). CONCLUSIONS: BE occurs in elderly patients debilitated with well-defined underlying diseases. BE is associated to high mortality.