Clinical Identifiers of Complicated Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia

Complications of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) are often difficult to identify. The ability to accurately predict the likelihood of these complications would impact patient management. This investigation sought to define readily available clinical characteristics that could help identify patients at risk for complicated SAB.

A prospective, observational cohort study was conducted from September 1994 through December 1999. Patients were followed up for 12 weeks after the initial positive blood culture result. The primary end point was complicated SAB (attributable mortality, complicated infection, embolic stroke, or recurrent S aureus infection during the 12-week follow-up period). The predictive model was validated using bootstrap resampling.