Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization and risk of subsequent infection in critically ill children: importance of preventing nosocomial methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus transmission.

BACKGROUND: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization is a predictor of subsequent infection in hospitalized adults. The risk of subsequent MRSA infections in hospitalized children colonized with MRSA is unknown. METHODS: Children admitted to an academic medical center's pediatric intensive care unit between March 2007 and March 2010 were included in the study. Anterior naris swabs were cultured to identify children with MRSA colonization at admission. Laboratory databases were queried and National Healthcare Safety Network definitions applied to identify patients with MRSA infections during their hospitalization or after discharge. RESULTS: The MRSA admission prevalence among 3140 children was 4.9%. Overall, 56 children (1.8%) developed an MRSA infection, including 13 (8.5%) colonized on admission and 43 (1.4%) not colonized on admission (relative risk [RR], 5.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.4-10.1). Of those, 10 children (0.3%) developed an MRSA infection during their hospitalization, including 3 of 153 children (1.9%) colonized on admission and 7 of 2987 children (0.2%) not colonized on admission (RR, 8.4; 95% CI, 2.7-25.8). African-Americans and those with public health insurance were more likely to get a subsequent infection (P < .01 and P = .03, respectively). We found that 15 children acquired MRSA colonization in the pediatric intensive care unit, and 7 (47%) developed a subsequent MRSA infection. CONCLUSIONS: MRSA colonization is a risk factor for subsequent MRSA infection in children. Although MRSA colonized children may have lower risks of subsequent infection than adults, children who acquire MRSA in the hospital have similarly high rates of infection. Preventing transmission of MRSA in hospitalized children should remain a priority.

Risk factors for positive admission surveillance cultures for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant enterococci in a neurocritical care unit.

OBJECTIVE: Hospitals are under increasing pressure to perform active surveillance cultures for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus. This study aimed to identify patients at low and high risk for positive admission surveillance cultures for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus in a neurocritical care unit using readily ascertainable historical factors. DESIGN: Before/after study with nested case/control study. SETTING: Neurocritical care unit of an academic hospital. PATIENTS: During the intervention period (July 2007 to June 2008), after implementation of an admission surveillance culture screening program for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, 2,059 patients were admitted to the neurocritical care unit for a total of 5,957 patient days. INTERVENTIONS: Cases had positive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus admission surveillance cultures within 48 hrs of hospital admission. Controls had negative cultures. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Admission surveillance cultures grew methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus in 35 of 823 (4.3%) and 19 of 766 (2.5%) patients, respectively. Factors significantly associated with both methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus colonization were intravenous antibiotics and hospitalization in the past year, immunocompromised health status, intravenous drug use, long-term hemodialysis, and known prior carrier status. Transfer from an outside hospital and residence in a long-term care facility in the past year were associated with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus colonization. Classification and regression tree analysis was used to identify variables that best predicted positive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus surveillance cultures. A classification and regression tree model with six of these variables yielded an overall cross-validated predictive accuracy of 87.12% to detect methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization. For vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, a four-variable classification and regression tree model (intravenous antibiotics, hospitalization and long-term patient care in the past year, and not being "admitted same day of procedure") optimized the predictive accuracy (94.91%). There were no cases of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus colonization in patients admitted same day of procedure. CONCLUSIONS: Colonization with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus in neurocritical care patients can be predicted with a high predictive accuracy using decision trees that include four to six readily attainable risk factors. In our setting, in the absence of these risk factors and in patients admitted from home for neurosurgical procedures, routine admission surveillance cultures to the intensive care unit may not be cost-effective.

Effect of shifting costs to patients on specialty evaluation for sleep disorders.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the introduction of out-of-pocket expenses to medical center employees would lead to decreased use of sleep disorder services. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed and compared the clinical and medical accounting data from visits by Mayo Clinic employees to the Sleep Disorders Center from January 1 to March 31, 2003, with that of January 1 to March 31, 2004, le, before and after a January 2004 increase in co-payments for evaluation and testing. RESULTS: The total number of new patients evaluated in the first quarters of 2003 and 2004 was similar (113 vs 119; P = .37). Snoring, restless legs symptoms, hypertension, atrial fibrillation, and prior overnight oximetry testing were more prevalent in 2004 than in 2003 (P = .05, P = .01, P < .001, P = .003, P = .02, respectively). In contrast, insomnia and parasomnia complaints were less common in 2004 (P < .001). The mean apnea-hypopnea index, minimum oxygen saturation, and percentage of time with oxygen saturation less than 90% were all more severe in 2004 (P = .01, P = .001, P < .001, respectively). Sleep-related breathing disorders were more commonly diagnosed in 2004 (83.2% vs 67.2%; P = .02), whereas the diagnoses of nonbreathing disorders declined. CONCLUSION: The insurance policy changes that resulted in larger employee co-payments shifted the spectrum of diagnoses seen at the Sleep Disorders Center toward more symptomatic patients, with more associated comorbidities, and patients who had more severe sleep-related breathing disorders. Total utilization did not decrease.

History of the development of sleep medicine in the United States.

Sleep Medicine has only recently been recognized as a specialty of medicine. Its development is based on an increasing amount of knowledge concerning the physiology of sleep, circadian biology and the pathophysiology of sleep disorders. This review chronicles the major advances in sleep science over the past 70 years and the development of the primary organizations responsible for the emergence of Sleep Medicine as a specialty, sleep disorders as a public health concern and sleep science as an important area of research.