RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Investigation of risk factors for the presence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) in inpatients on surgical wards and associated intensive care units of a German tertiary care hospital. METHODS: A single-centre retrospective matched case-control study was performed with surgical inpatients admitted between July 2013 and December 2016. Patients with in-hospital detection of VRE later than 48 h after admission were included and comprised 116 VRE-positive cases and 116 VRE-negative matched controls. VRE isolates of cases were typed by multi-locus sequence typing. RESULTS: ST117 was identified as the dominant VRE sequence type. Next to length of stay in hospital or on an intensive care unit and previous dialysis the case-control study revealed previous antibiotic therapy as a risk factor for the in-hospital detection of VRE. The antibiotics piperacillin/tazobactam, meropenem, and vancomycin were associated with the highest risks. After taking into account length of stay in hospital as possible confounder other potential contact-related risk factors such as previous sonography, radiology, central venous catheter, and endoscopy were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Previous dialysis and previous antibiotic therapy were identified as independent risk factors for the presence of VRE in surgical inpatients.
