PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Ram Venkatesh Anantha AU - Januvi Jegatheswaran AU - Daniel Luke Pepe AU - Fran Priestap AU - Johan Delport AU - S.M. Mansour Haeryfar AU - John K. McCormick AU - Tina Mele TI - Risk factors for mortality among patients with <em>Staphylococcus aureus</em> bacteremia: a single-centre retrospective cohort study AID - 10.9778/cmajo.20140018 DP - 2014 Oct 01 TA - CMAJ Open PG - E352--E359 VI - 2 IP - 4 4099 - http://www.cmajopen.ca/content/2/4/E352.short 4100 - http://www.cmajopen.ca/content/2/4/E352.full AB - Introduction Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Given the paucity of recent Canadian data, we estimated the mortality rate associated with S. aureus bacteremia in a tertiary care hospital and identified risk factors associated with mortality. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the records of adults with S. aureus bacteremia admitted to a tertiary care centre in southwestern Ontario between 2008 and 2012. Cox regression analysis was used to evaluate associations between predictor variables and all-cause, in-hospital, and 90-day postdischarge mortality. Results Of the 925 patients involved in the study, 196 (21.2%) died in hospital and 62 (6.7%) died within 90 days after discharge. Risk factors associated with in-hospital and all-cause mortality included age, sepsis (adjusted hazard ratio [adjusted HR] 1.49, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08–2.06, p = 0.02), admission to the intensive care unit (adjusted HR 3.78, 95% CI 2.85–5.02, p &lt; 0.0001), hepatic failure (adjusted HR 3.36, 95% CI 1.91–5.90, p &lt; 0.0001) and metastatic cancer (adjusted HR 2.58, 95% CI 1.77–3.75, p &lt; 0.0001). Methicillin resistance, hepatic failure, cerebrovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and metastatic cancer were associated with postdischarge mortality. Interpretation The all-cause mortality rate in our cohort was 27.9%. Identification of predictors of mortality may guide empiric therapy and provide prognostic clarity for patients with S. aureus bacteremia.