Nonselective ß blockers increase risk for hepatorenal syndrome and death in patients with cirrhosis and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Nonselective ß blockers (NSBBs) reduce portal pressure and the risk for variceal hemorrhage in patients with cirrhosis. However, development of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) in these patients could preclude treatment with NSBBs because of their effects on the circulatory reserve. We investigated the effects of NSBBs in patients with cirrhosis and ascites with and without SBP. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of data from 607 consecutive patients with cirrhosis who had their first paracentesis at the Medical University of Vienna from 2006 through 2011. Cox models were calculated to investigate the effect of NSBBs on transplant-free survival time and adjusted for Child-Pugh stage and presence of varices. RESULTS: NSBBs increased transplant-free survival in patients without SBP (hazard ratio = 0.75; 95% confidence interval: 0.581-0.968; P = .027) and reduced days of nonelective hospitalization (19.4 days/year for patients on NSBBs vs 23.9 days/year for patients not taking NSBBs). NSBBs had only moderate effects on systemic hemodynamics at patients' first paracentesis. However, at the first diagnosis of SBP, the proportion of hemodynamically compromised patients with systolic arterial pressure <100 mm Hg was higher among those who received NSBBs (38% vs 18% of those not taking NSBBs; P = .002), as was the proportion of patients with arterial pressure <82 mm Hg (64% of those taking NSBBs vs 44% of those not taking NSBBs; P = .006). Among patients with SBP, NSBBs reduced transplant-free survival (hazard ratio = 1.58; 95% confidence interval: 1.098-2.274; P = .014) and increased days of nonelective hospitalization (29.6 days/person-year in patients on NSBBs vs 23.7 days/person-year in those not taking NSBBs). A higher proportion of patients on NSBBs had hepatorenal syndrome (24% vs 11% in those not taking NSBBs; P = .027) and grade C acute kidney injury (20% vs 8% for those not taking NSBBs; P = .021). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with cirrhosis and SBP, NSBBs increase the proportion who are hemodynamically compromised, time of hospitalization, and risks for hepatorenal syndrome and acute kidney injury. They also reduce transplant-free survival. Patients with cirrhosis and SBP should not receive NSBBs.

Risk factors for development of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis and subsequent mortality in cirrhotic patients with ascites.

BACKGROUND: Patients with ascites are at risk for developing spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) - a severe complication associated with high mortality. We aimed to identify risk factors for SBP development and mortality to optimize stratification for primary prophylaxis and therapeutic strategies to improve survival. METHODS: 575 patients with cirrhosis and ascites undergoing paracentesis at a tertiary care hospital were included in this retrospective cohort study. Demographical, clinical and laboratory parameters were recorded at first paracentesis and during follow-up. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent predictors of SBP development and mortality. RESULTS: Child-Pugh stage C (OR: 3.323; P = 0.009), ascitic fluid polymorph-nuclear cell (PMN) count (OR: 1.544; P = 0.028) and low serum sodium (OR: 0.917; P = 0.029) emerged as independent risk factors for SBP development. SBP-naïve patients undergoing paracentesis and presenting with PMN-counts ≥100 cells/µl, or hyponatraemia <125 mM were at highest risk for developing SBP. Increases in MELD and CRP levels indicated SBP development, while no changes where observed in a matched control group with sterile ascites at multiple paracenteses. MELD score (OR: 1.565; P = 0.001) and CRP (OR: 1.067; P = 0.037) were identified as independent risk factors for 30-day mortality after SBP diagnosis. In particular SBP patients with MELD≥22, CRP ≥3.5 mg/dl and development of grade III/IV hepatic encephalopathy showed highest mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Low serum sodium levels, Child-Pugh stage C and elevated ascites PMN counts (≥100 cells/µl) indicate a significant risk for SBP development. SBP-related mortality is highest in patients with MELD≥22 and elevated CRP levels.

The role and utilisation of public health evaluations in Europe: a case study of national hand hygiene campaigns.

BACKGROUND: Evaluations are essential to judge the success of public health programmes. In Europe, the proportion of public health programmes that undergo evaluation remains unclear. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control sought to determine the frequency of evaluations amongst European national public health programmes by using national hand hygiene campaigns as an example of intervention. METHODS: A cohort of all national hand hygiene campaigns initiated between 2000 and 2012 was utilised for the analysis. The aim was to collect information about evaluations of hand hygiene campaigns and their frequency. The survey was sent to nominated contact points for healthcare-associated infection surveillance in European Union and European Economic Area Member States. RESULTS: Thirty-six hand hygiene campaigns in 20 countries were performed between 2000 and 2012. Of these, 50% had undergone an evaluation and 55% of those utilised the WHO hand hygiene intervention self-assessment tool. Evaluations utilised a variety of methodologies and indicators in assessing changes in hand hygiene behaviours pre and post intervention. Of the 50% of campaigns that were not evaluated, two thirds reported that both human and financial resource constraints posed significant barriers for the evaluation. CONCLUSION: The study identified an upward trend in the number of hand hygiene campaigns implemented in Europe. It is likely that the availability of the internationally-accepted evaluation methodology developed by the WHO contributed to the evaluation of more hand hygiene campaigns in Europe. Despite this rise, hand hygiene campaigns appear to be under-evaluated. The development of simple, programme-specific, standardised guidelines, evaluation indicators and other evidence-based public health materials could help promote evaluations across all areas of public health.

S2k-Guideline hand antisepsis and hand hygiene.

The consensus-based guideline "hand antisepsis and hand hygiene" for Germany has the following sections: Prevention of nosocomial infections by hygienic hand antisepsis, prevention of surgical site infections by surgical hand antisepsis, infection prevention in the community by hand antisepsis in epidemic or pandemic situations, hand washing, selection of alcohol-based hand rubs and wash lotions, medical gloves and protective gloves, preconditions for hand hygiene, skin protection and skin care, quality assurance of the implementation of hand hygiene measures and legal aspects. The guideline was developed by the German Society for Hospital Hygiene in cooperation with 22 professional societies, 2 professional organizations, the German Care Council, the Federal Working Group for Self-Help of People with Disabilities and Chronic Illness and their Family Members, the General Accident Insurance Institution Austria and the German-speaking Interest Group of Infection Prevention Experts and Hospital Hygiene Consultants.

Assessing the clinical uses of fuzzy detection results in the automated detection of CVC-related infections: a preliminary report.

Central venous catheters (CVCs) play an essential role in the care of the critically ill, but their use comes at the risk of infection. By using fuzzy set theory and logic to model clinical linguistic CVC-related infection criteria, clinical detection systems can detect borderline infections where not all infection parameters have been (fully) met, also called fuzzy results. In this paper we analyzed the clinical use of these results. We used a fuzzy-logic-based computerized infection control system for the monitoring of healthcare-associated infections to uncover fuzzy results and periods, after which we classified them, and used these classifications together with knowledge of prior CVC-related infection episodes in temporal association rule mining. As a result, we uncovered several rules which can help with the early detection of re-occurring CVC-related infections.

Concise healthcare-associated infection reporting and benchmarking with minimal staff resources.

We report on intelligent information technology tools that produce fully-automated surveillance reports of high precision for 12 intensive care units (ICUs) without relevant time expenditure of infection control or ICU staff. This is accomplished by MONI-ICU, a computerized system for automated identification and continuous monitoring of ICU-associated infections, which makes surveillance data readily accessible and presents them in easily perceptible reporting format.

Electronic surveillance of healthcare-associated infections with MONI-ICU--a clinical breakthrough compared to conventional surveillance systems.

Surveillance of clinical entities such as healthcare-associated infections (HCAI) by conventional techniques is a time-consuming task for highly trained experts. Such are neither available nor affordable in sufficient numbers on a permanent basis. Nevertheless, expert surveillance is a key parameter for good clinical practice, especially in intensive care medicine. MONI-ICU (monitoring of nosocomial infections in intensive care units) has been developed methodically and practically in a stepwise manner over the last 20 years and is now a reliable tool for clinical experts. It provides an almost real-time view of clinical indicators for HCAI--at the cost of almost no additional time on the part of surveillance staff or clinicians. We describe the use of this system in clinical routine and compare the results generated automatically by MONI-ICU with those generated in parallel by trained surveillance staff using patient chart reviews and other available information ("gold standard"). A total of 99 ICU patient admissions representing 1007 patient days were analyzed. MONI-ICU identified correctly the presence of an HCAI condition in 28/31 cases (sensitivity, 90.3%) and their absence in 68/68 of the non-HCAI cases (specificity, 100%), the latter meaning that MONI-ICU produced no "false alarms". The time taken for conventional surveillance at the 52 ward visits was 82.5 hours. MONI-ICU analysis of the same patient cases, including careful review of the generated results required only 12.5 hours (15.2%).

Data correction pre-processing for electronically stored blood culture results: implications on microbial spectrum and empiric antibiotic therapy.

BACKGROUND: The outcome of patients with bacteraemia is influenced by the initial selection of adequate antimicrobial therapy. The objective of our study was to clarify the influence of different crude data correction methods on a) microbial spectrum and ranking of pathogens, and b) cumulative antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of blood culture isolates obtained from patients from intensive care units (ICUs) using a computer based tool, MONI. METHODS: Analysis of 13 ICUs over a period of 7 years yielded 1427 microorganisms from positive results. Three different data correction methods were applied. Raw data method (RDM): Data without further correction, including all positive blood culture results. Duplicate-free method (DFM): Correction of raw data for consecutive patient's results yielding same microorganism with similar antibiogram within a two-week period. Contaminant-free method (CFM): Bacteraemia caused by possible contaminants was only assumed as true bloodstream infection, if an organism of the same species was isolated from > 2 sets of blood cultures within 5 days. RESULTS: Our study demonstrates that different approaches towards raw data correction - none (RDM), duplicate-free (DFM), and a contaminant-free method (CFM) - show different results in analysis of positive blood cultures. Regarding the spectrum of microorganisms, RDM and DFM yielded almost similar results in ranking of microorganisms, whereas using the CFM resulted in a clinically and epidemiologically more plausible spectrum. CONCLUSION: For possible skin contaminants, the proportion of microorganisms in terms of number of episodes is most influenced by the CFM, followed by the DFM. However, with exception of fusidic acid for gram-positive organisms, none of the evaluated correction methods would have changed advice for empiric therapy on the selected ICUs.

Artificial-intelligence-based hospital-acquired infection control.

Nosocomial or hospital-acquired infections (NIs) are a frequent complication in hospitalized patients. The growing availability of computerized patient records in hospitals permits automated identification and extended monitoring for signs of NIs. A fuzzy- and knowledge-based system to identify and monitor NIs at intensive care units (ICUs) according to the European Surveillance System HELICS (NI definitions derived from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criteria) was developed and put into operation at the Vienna General Hospital. This system, named Moni, for monitoring of nosocomial infections contains medical knowledge packages (MKPs) to identify and monitor various infections of the bloodstream, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and central venous catheter-associated infections. The MKPs consist of medical logic modules (MLMs) in Arden syntax, a medical knowledge representation scheme, whose definition is part of the HL7 standards. These MLM packages together with the Arden software are well suited to be incorporated in medical information systems such as hospital information or intensive-care patient data management systems, or in web-based applications. In terms of method, Moni contains an extended data-to-symbol conversion with several layers of abstraction, until the top level defining NIs according to HELICS is reached. All included medical concepts such as "normal", "increased", "decreased", or similar ones are formally modeled by fuzzy sets, and fuzzy logic is used to process the interpretations of the clinically observed and measured patient data through an inference network. The currently implemented cockpit surveillance connects 96 ICU beds with Moni and offers the hospital's infection control department a hitherto unparalleled NI infection survey.

Arden Syntax MLM Building Blocks for Microbiological Concepts and Their Application in Infection Surveillance.

BACKGROUND: The diagnosis - and hence definitions - of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) rely on microbiological laboratory test results in specific constellations. OBJECTIVES: To construct a library that provides interoperable building blocks for the analysis of microbiological laboratory test results. METHODS: We used Java for preprocessing raw microbiological laboratory test results and Arden Syntax for knowledge-based querying of data based on microbiology information elements used in European surveillance criteria for HAIs. To test the library and quantify how often these information elements occur in the data, we performed a retrospective cohort study on adult patients admitted for at least 24 hours to an intensive care unit at the Vienna General Hospital in 2013. RESULTS: We identified eleven information elements for which information was electronically available. These elements were identified positively 1,239 times in 1,184 positive microbiology tests from 563 patients. DISCUSSION: The availability of a library for the analysis of microbiology laboratory test results in HAI terms facilitates electronic HAI surveillance.

Arden Syntax Clinical Foundation Framework for Event Monitoring in Intensive Care Units: Report on a Pilot Study.

The creation of clinical decision support systems has received a strong impulse over the last years, but their integration into a clinical routine has lagged behind, partly due to a lack of interoperability and trust by physicians. We report on the implementation of a clinical foundation framework in Arden Syntax, comprising knowledge units for (a) preprocessing raw clinical data, (b) the determination of single clinical concepts, and (c) more complex medical knowledge, which can be modeled through the composition and configuration of knowledge units in this framework. Thus, it can be tailored to clinical institutions or patients' caregivers. In the present version, we integrated knowledge units for several infection-related clinical concepts into the framework and developed a clinical event monitoring system over the framework that employs three different scenarios for monitoring clinical signs of bloodstream infection. The clinical event monitoring system was tested using data from intensive care units at Vienna General Hospital, Austria.

Context-Sensitive Clinical Alert Packages Written in Arden Syntax.

An increasing body of raw patient data is generated on each day of a patient's stay at a hospital. It is of paramount importance that critical patient information be extracted from these large data volumes and presented to the patient's clinical caregivers as early as possible. Contemporary clinical alert systems attempt to provide this service with moderate success. The efficacy of the systems is limited by the fact that they are too general to fit specific patient populations or healthcare institutions. In this study we present an extendable alerting framework implemented in Arden Syntax, which can be configured to the needs and preferences of healthcare institutions and individual patient caregivers. We illustrate the potential of this alerting framework via an alert package that analyzes hematological laboratory results with data from intensive care units at the Vienna General Hospital, Austria. The results show the effectiveness of this alert package and its ability to generate key alerts while avoiding over-alerting.

Detecting borderline infection in an automated monitoring system for healthcare-associated infection using fuzzy logic.

BACKGROUND: Many electronic infection detection systems employ dichotomous classification methods, classifying patient data as pathological or normal with respect to one or several types of infection. An electronic monitoring and surveillance system for healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) known as Moni-ICU is being operated at the intensive care units (ICUs) of the Vienna General Hospital (VGH) in Austria. Instead of classifying patient data as pathological or normal, Moni-ICU introduces a third borderline class. Patient data classified as borderline with respect to an infection-related clinical concept or HAI surveillance definition signify that the data nearly or partly fulfill the definition for the respective concept or HAI, and are therefore neither fully pathological nor fully normal. OBJECTIVE: Using fuzzy sets and propositional fuzzy rules, we calculated how frequently patient data are classified as normal, borderline, or pathological with respect to infection-related clinical concepts and HAI definitions. In dichotomous classification methods, borderline classification results would be confounded by normal. Therefore, we also assessed whether the constructed fuzzy sets and rules employed by Moni-ICU classified patient data too often or too infrequently as borderline instead of normal. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: Electronic surveillance data were collected from adult patients (aged 18 years or older) at ten ICUs of the VGH. All adult patients admitted to these ICUs over a two-year period were reviewed. In all 5099 patient stays (4120 patients) comprising 49,394 patient days were evaluated. For classification, a part of Moni-ICU's knowledge base comprising fuzzy sets and rules for ten infection-related clinical concepts and four top-level HAI definitions was employed. Fuzzy sets were used for the classification of concepts directly related to patient data; fuzzy rules were employed for the classification of more abstract clinical concepts, and for top-level HAI surveillance definitions. Data for each clinical concept and HAI definition were classified as either normal, borderline, or pathological. For the assessment of fuzzy sets and rules, we compared how often a borderline value for a fuzzy set or rule would result in a borderline value versus a normal value for its associated HAI definition(s). The statistical significance of these comparisons was expressed in p-values calculated with Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: The results showed that, for clinical concepts represented by fuzzy sets, 1-17% of the data were classified as borderline. The number was substantially higher (20-81%) for fuzzy rules representing more abstract clinical concepts. A small body of data were found to be in the borderline range for the four top-level HAI definitions (0.02-2.35%). Seven of ten fuzzy sets and rules were associated significantly more often with borderline values than with normal values for their respective HAI definition(s) (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The study showed that Moni-ICU was effective in classifying patient data as borderline for infection-related concepts and top-level HAI surveillance definitions.

A national point prevalence study on healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use in Austria.

BACKGROUND: The first point prevalence survey performed in Austria had the aim to assess the magnitude of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobials use in the country. METHODS: A multicentre study was carried out from May until June 2012 in nine acute care hospitals with a mean bed number of 620. Data from 4321 patients' clinical charts were reviewed. RESULTS: The overall healthcare-associated infections prevalence was 6.2% (268/4321) with the highest rate in intensive care departments (20.9%; 49/234). In medical and surgical departments the healthcare-associated infections prevalence was 5.4% (95/1745) and 6.6% (105/1586), respectively. The most frequent healthcare-associated infections were: urinary tract infections (21.3%; 61/287), pneumonia (20.6%; 59/287) and surgical site infections (17.4%; 50/287). The most common isolated microorganisms were: Escherichia coli (14.8%; 26/176), Enterococcus species (13.1%; 23/176) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (11.4%; 20/176). Thirty-three per cent (1425/4321) of the patients received antimicrobials because of community-acquired infections treatment (14.2%; 615/4321), healthcare-associated infections treatment (6.4%; 278/4321), and surgical (8.2%; 354/4321) and medical prophylaxis (3.2%; 138/4321). Surgical prophylaxis was the indication for 22.0% (394/1792) of the overall prescriptions and was prolonged for more than 1 day in 77.2% (304/394) of the cases. CONCLUSION: The national Austrian survey proved the feasibility of a nation-wide network of surveillance of both healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use that will be repeated in the future. Healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use have been confirmed to be a grave health problem. The excessive prolongation of perioperative prophylaxis in Austria needs to be limited.

Neither Single nor a Combination of Routine Laboratory Parameters can Discriminate between Gram-positive and Gram-negative Bacteremia.

Adequate early empiric antibiotic therapy is pivotal for the outcome of patients with bloodstream infections. In clinical practice the use of surrogate laboratory parameters is frequently proposed to predict underlying bacterial pathogens; however there is no clear evidence for this assumption. In this study, we investigated the discriminatory capacity of predictive models consisting of routinely available laboratory parameters to predict the presence of Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacteremia. Major machine learning algorithms were screened for their capacity to maximize the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC-AUC) for discriminating between Gram-positive and Gram-negative cases. Data from 23,765 patients with clinically suspected bacteremia were screened and 1,180 bacteremic patients were included in the study. A relative predominance of Gram-negative bacteremia (54.0%), which was more pronounced in females (59.1%), was observed. The final model achieved 0.675 ROC-AUC resulting in 44.57% sensitivity and 79.75% specificity. Various parameters presented a significant difference between both genders. In gender-specific models, the discriminatory potency was slightly improved. The results of this study do not support the use of surrogate laboratory parameters for predicting classes of causative pathogens. In this patient cohort, gender-specific differences in various laboratory parameters were observed, indicating differences in the host response between genders.

Influence of selective bowel decontamination on the organisms recovered during bacteremia in neutropenic patients.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the influence of prophylactic selective bowel decontamination (SBD) on the spectrum of microbes causing bloodstream infection (BSI). DESIGN: The microbes causing BSI in neutropenic patients of a hematologic ward (HW) and a bone marrow transplantation unit (BMTU), respectively, were compared by retrospective analysis of blood culture results from January 1996 to June 2003. SETTING: A 30-bed HW (no SBD) and a BMTU including a 7-bed normal care ward and an 8-bed intensive care unit (SBD used) of a 2,200-bed university teaching hospital. RESULTS: The overall incidences of bacteremia in the HW and the BMTU were similar (72.6 vs 70.6 episodes per 1,000 admissions; P = .8). Two hundred twenty episodes of BSI were recorded in 164 neutropenic patients of the HW and 153 episodes in 127 neutropenic patients of the BMTU. Enterobacteriaceae (OR, 3.14; CI95, 1.67-5.97; P= .0002) and Streptococcus species (OR, 2.04; CI95, 1.14-3.70; P = .015) were observed more frequently in HW patients and coagulase-negative staphylococci more frequently in BMTU patients (OR, 0.15; CI95, 0.09-0.26; P < .00001). No statistically significant differences were found for gram-negative nonfermentative bacilli (P = .53), Staphylococcus aureus (P = .21), Enterococcus species (P = .48), anaerobic bacteria (P = .1), or fungi (P = .50). CONCLUSIONS: SBD did not lead to a significant reduction in the incidence of bacteremia, but significant changes in microbes recovered from blood cultures were observed. SBD should be considered when empiric antimicrobial therapy is prescribed for suspected BSI.

Diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae childhood encephalitis: systematic review of 58 cases.

Most of the knowledge on Mycoplasma pneumoniae encephalitis in children is based on case reports or small case series. The aim of this study was to assess the important features of the disease by a systematic review of previously published cases. Overall, 58 cases (22 female, 36 male; median age 10 years, range: 2-17 years), derived from 38 reports, were reviewed. Forty-five patients (76%) had flulike or respiratory symptoms prior to the onset of neurologic disease, and 23 patients (40%) presented with pulmonary infiltrates. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pleocytosis (mostly mononuclear cells) and elevated cerebrospinal fluid protein counts were present in 34 (59%) and 21 (36%) patients, respectively. Cranial computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) abnormalities were seen in 18 (31%) and 17 (29%) patients, respectively, whereby various different presentations were observed. Forty-four patients (76%) received antimicrobial therapy active against mycoplasmas, most frequently erythromycin (n = 29) or minocycline (n = 6). Only in one patient, cure was directly attributed to antimicrobial therapy (with chloramphenicol) by the respective authors. Thirty-three patients (57%) recovered without sequelae, 20 patients (34%) had minor to major sequelae, and 5 patients (9%) died. A high cerebrospinal fluid cell count, cerebrospinal fluid protein elevation, and higher age were associated with an unfavorable outcome.

Healthcare-associated infection surveillance and bedside alerts.

Expectations and requirements concerning the identification and surveillance of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are increasing, calling for differentiated automated approaches. In an attempt to bridge the "definition swamp" of these infections and serve the needs of different users, we improved the monitoring of nosocomial infections (MONI) software to create better surveillance reports according to consented national and international definitions, as well as produce infection overviews on complex clinical matters including alerts for the clinician's ward and bedside work. MONI contains and processes surveillance definitions for intensive-care-unit-acquired infections from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Sweden, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA. The latest release of MONI also includes KISS criteria of the German National Reference Center for Surveillance of Nosocomial Infections. In addition to these "classic" surveillance criteria, clinical alert criteria--which are similar but not identical to the surveillance criteria--were established together with intensivists. This is an important step to support both infection control and clinical personnel; and--last but not least--to foster co-evolution of the two groups of definitions: surveillance and alerts.

A risk prediction model for screening bacteremic patients: a cross sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Bacteraemia is a frequent and severe condition with a high mortality rate. Despite profound knowledge about the pre-test probability of bacteraemia, blood culture analysis often results in low rates of pathogen detection and therefore increasing diagnostic costs. To improve the cost-effectiveness of blood culture sampling, we computed a risk prediction model based on highly standardizable variables, with the ultimate goal to identify via an automated decision support tool patients with very low risk for bacteraemia. METHODS: In this retrospective hospital-wide cohort study evaluating 15,985 patients with suspected bacteraemia, 51 variables were assessed for their diagnostic potency. A derivation cohort (n = 14.699) was used for feature and model selection as well as for cut-off specification. Models were established using the A2DE classifier, a supervised Bayesian classifier. Two internally validated models were further evaluated by a validation cohort (n = 1,286). RESULTS: The proportion of neutrophile leukocytes in differential blood count was the best individual variable to predict bacteraemia (ROC-AUC: 0.694). Applying the A2DE classifier, two models, model 1 (20 variables) and model 2 (10 variables) were established with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC-AUC) of 0.767 and 0.759, respectively. In the validation cohort, ROC-AUCs of 0.800 and 0.786 were achieved. Using predefined cut-off points, 16% and 12% of patients were allocated to the low risk group with a negative predictive value of more than 98.8%. CONCLUSION: Applying the proposed models, more than ten percent of patients with suspected blood stream infection were identified having minimal risk for bacteraemia. Based on these data the application of this model as an automated decision support tool for physicians is conceivable leading to a potential increase in the cost-effectiveness of blood culture sampling. External prospective validation of the model's generalizability is needed for further appreciation of the usefulness of this tool.

Proton pump inhibitor intake neither predisposes to spontaneous bacterial peritonitis or other infections nor increases mortality in patients with cirrhosis and ascites.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) intake on the development of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) or other infections, as well as on mortality, in a thoroughly documented cohort of patients with cirrhosis and ascites. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of follow-up data from 607 consecutive patients with cirrhosis undergoing their first paracentesis at a tertiary center. A binary logistic regression model investigating the association between PPI intake and SBP at the first paracentesis was calculated. Competing risk analyses and Cox models were used to investigate the effect of PPIs on the cumulative incidence of SBP or other infections and transplant-free survival, respectively. Adjustments were made for age, hepatocellular carcinoma, history of variceal bleeding, varices and model of end-stage liver disease score. RESULTS: Eighty-six percent of patients were receiving PPIs. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, PPI intake was neither associated with increased SBP prevalence at the first paracentesis (odds ratio (OR):1.11,95% confidence interval (95%CI):0.6-2.06; P = 0.731) nor cumulative incidence of SBP (subdistribution hazard ratio (SHR): 1.38; 95%CI:0.63-3.01; P = 0.42) and SBP or other infections (SHR:1.71; 95%CI:0.85-3.44; P = 0.13) during follow-up. Moreover, PPI intake had no impact on transplant-free survival in both the overall cohort (hazard ratio (HR):0.973,95%CI:0.719-1.317; P = 0.859) as well as in the subgroups of patients without SBP (HR:1.01,95%CI:0.72-1.42; P = 0.971) and without SBP or other infections at the first paracentesis (HR:0.944,95%CI:0.668-1.334; P = 0.742). CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of cirrhotic patients with PPI intake was higher than in previous reports, suggesting that PPI indications were interpreted liberally. In our cohort with a particularly high prevalence of PPI intake, we observed no association between PPIs and SBP or other infections, as well as mortality. Thus, the severity of liver disease and other factors, rather than PPI treatment per se may predispose for infectious complications.