A retrospective study on Escherichia coli bacteremia in immunocompromised patients: Microbiological features, clinical characteristics, and risk factors for shock and death

BACKGROUND: To evaluate clinical features, bacterial characteristics, and risk factors for shock and mortality of immunocompromised patients with Escherichia coli bacteremia. METHODS: A nearly 6‐year retrospective study of E coli bacteremia in 188 immunocompromised patients at Xiangya Hospital was conducted. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were documented. Phylogenetic background and virulence factors of E coli isolates were detected by polymerase chain reaction. Risk factors for shock and mortality were also investigated. RESULTS: Of all 188 E coli isolates, most prevalent virulence factors were fimH (91.0%), followed by traT (68.6%) and iutA (67.0%), while papG allele I, gafD, and cdtB were not detected. Phylogenetic group D was dominant (42.0%) among all isolates, and group B2 accounted for 17.6%, while group A and B1 accounted for 28.2% and 12.2%, respectively. In univariate analysis, ibeA and cnf1 were associated with mortality, which were not found in multivariate regression analysis. 22.3% of patients suffered shock, and 30‐day mortality rate was 21.3%. MDR (HR 2.956; 95% CI, 1.091‐8.012) was the only risk factor for shock, while adult (HR 0.239; 95% CI, 0.108‐0.527) was a protective factor. Multivariate analysis revealed that shock (HR 4.268; 95% CI, 2.208‐8.248; P < .001) and Charlson index > 2 (HR 2.073; 95% CI, 1.087‐3.952; P = .027) were associated with fatal outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Escherichia coli bacteremia was highly lethal in immunocompromised patients, and host‐related factors played major roles in poor prognosis, while bacterial determinants had little effect on outcome. This study also provided additional information about the virulence and phylogenetic group characteristics of E coli bacteremia.