Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
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Multicenter Study
Excess risk of death from intensive care unit-acquired nosocomial bloodstream infections: a reappraisal.
Overall rates of bloodstream infection (BSI) are often used as quality indicators in intensive care units (ICUs). We investigated whether ICU-acquired BSI increased mortality (by > or = 10%) after adjustment for severity of infection at ICU admission and during the pre-BSI stay. ⋯ When adjusted for risk-exposure time and severity at admission and during the ICU stay, BSI was associated with a 3-fold increase in mortality, but considerable variation occurred across BSI subgroups. Focusing on BSI subgroups may be valuable for assessing quality of care in ICUs.