Abstract:
Background The infection rate of Enterococcus faecium in intensive care unit patients is increasing, and its infection is affected by multiple factors, but related independent risk factors are rarely reported. At the same time, the drug resistance of E. faecium is increasingly serious.
Objective To investigate the associated risk factors and antibiotic resistance characteristics of E. faecium infection in intensive care unit patients.
Methods Totally 66 patients with E. faecium infection were selected as the case group in the intensive care unit of the Fifth Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital from January to December in 2021, while 60 uninfected patients were selected as the control group during the same period to analyze the clinical data about patients and the antibiotic resistance characteristics of the isolated strains.
Results Univariate analysis showed that there were significant differences in age≥60 years old, glucocorticoid used, antibiotic used within 30 days before infection, hospital stays between the case group and control group (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that glucocorticoid used (OR=2.875, 95% CI: 1.204-6.867, P=0.017), carbapenem antibiotic used (OR=4.118, 95% CI: 1.530-11.085, P=0.005) within 30 days before infection and hospital stays≥8 days (OR=5.504, 95% CI: 1.989-15.232, P=0.001) were positively associated with E. faecium infection in the intensive care unit patients. Antimicrobial susceptibility showed that the resistance rates of E. faecium to vancomycin, tetracycline, high-level gentamicin and streptomycin were 10.39%-51.95%, 87.01%-97.40% to erythromycin, clindamycin, quinolones, and 100% to penicillin and ampicillin. The resistance rate to tetracycline between E. faecium strains isolated from sputum samples was lower than that in non-sputum samples (30.77% vs 63.16%, P<0.05).
Conclusion Glucocorticoid used, carbapenem antibiotic used within 30 days before infection and hospital stays≥8 days are independent risk factors of E. faecium infection in the intensive care unit patients, and the resistance of E. faecium to commonly used antibiotics in clinical varies widely, so antibiotics should be selected rationally according to the results of antimicrobial susceptibility.