Bacteremia in Children with Solid Tumors: Etiology, Antimicrobial Susceptibility, Factors Associated with Multidrug Resistance, and Mortality

Abstract

This retrospective study aims to describe the etiology and resistance patterns of pathogens causing bacteremia in children with solid tumors in a tertiary pediatric hematology-oncology center in Jerusalem, Israel (2011-2019). Factors associated with multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteremia and mortality were analyzed. A total of 228 pathogens were isolated in 126 patients; 61.0% were gram-negative rods (GNR) and 38.2% were gram-positive cocci (GPC). The most common pathogens were Klebsiella pneumoniae (19.3%), Escherichia coli (17.5%), and coagulase-negative staphylococci (16.2%). The proportion of MDR-GNR was 18.2%, while the proportion of MDR-GPC was 55.2%. In logistic regression analysis, breakthrough bacteremia on a penicillin-group antibiotic (odds ratio [OR] 5.69, [95% confidence interval 1.42-22.76], p-value = 0.014) was associated and underlying diagnosis of neuroblastoma was inversely associated (OR 0.17, [0.04-0.81], p-value = 0.026) with MDR-GNR bacteremia; while the previous hospitalizations' duration (OR 1.032/day, [1.01-1.06], p-value = 0.007) and oncologic treatment intensity (OR 2.19, [1.08-4.45, p-value = 0.03) were associated with MDR-GPC bacteremia. Shock, prolonged profound neutropenia, and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission were associated with 7-day mortality; and relapsed disease, oncologic treatment intensity, prolonged profound neutropenia, and PICU admission-with 30-day mortality in the univariate analyses. Empirical antibiotic choice should be based on factors associated with MDR infections in this specific population.

Keywords: bacteremia; gram-negative rods; gram-positive cocci; resistance; solid tumors.