Population-based study of the risk and short-term prognosis for bacteremiain patients with liver cirrhosis

We examined the risk of bacteremia in patients with liver cirrhosis (compar ed with the risk for all Danish citizens >20 years of age who were living i n North Jutland County, Denmark), as well as the type of bacteremia and the 30-day case-fatality rate. We used the Danish National Registry of Patient s to identify 1339 patients with liver cirrhosis, and we used the North Jut land County Bacteremia Database to identify episodes of bacteremia. We obse rved 117 cases of bacteremia in patients with liver cirrhosis (11.0 cases w ere expected), which yielded a standardized incidence ratio of 10.5 (95% co nfidence interval [CI], 8.8-12.7). Sixty-two cases of bacteremia were nosoc omial infections. There were 53 cases of gram-positive bacteremia, 55 cases of gram-negative bacteremia, and 8 cases of polymicrobial bacteremia (1 ca se of candidemia was excluded from the analysis). The most common cause of death was bleeding from gastroesophageal varices; the second most common ca use of death was infection in the respiratory system. The 30-day case-fatal ity rate was 0.53 (95% CI, 0.39-0.73). Patients with liver cirrhosis had an increased risk of bacteremia and a poor prognosis.