Comparison of characteristics of patients with clinically relevant clostridium bacteraemia and those with clostridium pseudobacteraemia
| Characteristics | Number of patients (%) | p Value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clinically relevant bacteraemia (n = 38) | Pseudobacteraemia (n = 30) | ||
| *The percentages add up to more than 100% because some patients had more than one underlying disease. | |||
| NS, not significant. | |||
| Sex | |||
| Male | 23 (61) | 13 (43) | NS |
| Female | 15 (39) | 17 (57) | |
| Mean age (SD) | 64 (26.3) | 70 (21.6) | NS |
| Underlying disease* | |||
| Gastrointestinal tract disease | 11 (29) | 7 (23) | NS |
| Hepatobiliary tract disease | 11 (29) | 1 (3) | <0.01 |
| Malignancy | 11 (29) | 6 (20) | NS |
| Hypertension | 11 (29) | 10 (33) | NS |
| Diabetes mellitus | 7 (18) | 6 (20) | NS |
| Cerebrovascular accident | 6 (16) | 13 (43) | <0.05 |
| Immobilisation and/or bed sore | 4 (11) | 16 (53) | <0.005 |
| Chronic renal failure | 3 (8) | 0 (0) | NS |
| Blood culture isolate | |||
| C barati | 0 (0) | 1 (3) | NS |
| C difficile | 1 (3) | 0 (0) | NS |
| C disporicum | 1 (3) | 0 (0) | NS |
| C indolis | 0 (0) | 1 (3) | NS |
| C innocuum | 0 (0) | 1 (3) | NS |
| C orbiscindens | 0 (0) | 1 (3) | NS |
| C paraputrificum | 1 (3) | 3 (10) | NS |
| C perfringens | 30 (79) | 21 (70) | NS |
| C ramosum | 3 (8) | 0 (0) | NS |
| C septicum | 1 (3) | 0 (0) | NS |
| C sporosphaeroides | 0 (0) | 1 (3) | NS |
| C tertium | 1 (3) | 1 (3) | NS |
| Community/hospital acquired | |||
| Community | 30 (79) | 21 (70) | NS |
| Hospital | 8 (21) | 9 (30) | |
| Number of positive blood cultures | |||
| 1 | 34 (89) | 30 (100) | NS |
| 2 | 4 (11) | 0 (0) | |
| Mono/polymicrobial bacteraemia | |||
| Monomicrobial | 19 (50) | 16 (53) | NS |
| Polymicrobial | 19 (50) | 14 (47) | NS |