BACKGROUND:

Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia carries high mortality rates. The clinical impact of methicillin resistance remains controversial: outcome comparisons between patients with bacteremia involving methicillin-susceptible (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant (MRSA) S aureus are difficult to perform because of important differences in severity of illness.

METHODS:

A retrospective cohort analysis and 2 independent case-control analyses were performed to determine and compare outcomes and attributable mortality rates of MSSA (n = 38) and MRSA bacteremia (n = 47) in critically ill patients. For the case-control studies, matching (1:2 ratio) was based on the APACHE (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation) II classification: APACHE II score (+/-1 point) and diagnostic category.

RESULTS:

Patients with MRSA bacteremia had more acute renal failure and hemodynamic instability than patients with MSSA bacteremia. They had a longer intensive care unit stay and ventilator dependency. Patients with MRSA bacteremia had a higher 30-day mortality rate (53.2% vs 18.4%) and in-hospital mortality rate (63.8% vs 23.7%) (P<.05). Multivariate survival analysis demonstrated acute renal failure, length of mechanical ventilation, age, and methicillin resistance to be independently associated with mortality (P<.05). The attributable mortality rate for MSSA bacteremia was 1.3%: mortality rates for cases and controls were respectively 23.7% and 22.4% (P =.94). The attributable mortality rate for MRSA bacteremia was 23.4%: mortality rates for cases and controls were respectively 63.8% and 40.4% (P =.02). The difference (22.1%) between both attributable mortality rates was significant (95% confidence interval, 8.8%-35.3%).

CONCLUSION:

In critically ill patients, after accurate adjustment for disease severity and acute illness, we found MRSA bacteremia to have a higher attributable mortality than MSSA bacteremia.