ABSTRACT
Infectious diseases are an important cause of mortality in patients with renal failure. The markers used to diagnose infection in patients with renal failure have various limitations. Culture positivity is an objective guide in that context. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of frequently used markers of bacterial infection in predicting culture positivity in renal failure patients with renal failure hospitalized with suspected bacterial infection over an approximately 1.5-year period were included in this prospective observational study. Patients' demographic and laboratory findings were recorded. Demographic and laboratory findings and mortality were compared between patients with and without culture-positivity. Parameters affecting culture positivity were also analyzed. Four hundred twenty-six patients (median age 67.50, 45.5% female) were included in the study. Culture positivity was determined in 54.5% of patients. Hospital stay was longer (p < 0.001) and leukocyte (p < 0.001), neutrophil percentage (p < 0.05) and CRP (p < 0.001) values were significantly higher in culture-positive patients. Mortality was also significantly higher in culture-positive patients than in culture-negative patients (p < 0.05). CRP was determined as a predictor of culture positivity at logistic regression analysis (p = 0.000, exp ß [1.004]). Culture positivity was determined in more than half of the patients hospitalized with suspected bacterial infection. CRP, a longstanding marker, was identified as a parameter predicting culture positivity. We think that the determination in further studies of a cut-off point for CRP in determining culture positivity may be a useful diagnostic guide.
