Background: Bacteremia events are frequent cause of mortality in burn patients and may originate from infected wounds, by bacterial translocation of endogenous microorganisms, from invasive devices or contaminated intravenous solutions.
Objective: To quantify the incidence of bacteremia in pediatric patients with burns and to identify risk factors.
Material and methods: A prospective cohort study was performed in pediatric patients with burns of Hospital Civil de Guadalajara "Dr. Juan I. Menchaca". Bacteremia was diagnosed by blood cultures in patients with clinical manifestations of sepsis. Risk factors were investigated by multivariate analysis with Cox regression.
Results: Were included in the cohort 260 patients, median age 3 years. The incidence of bacteremia was 9.6 events per 1,000 days patient. The most frequently isolated bacteria were Enterobacteriaceae (41.9%), Staphylococcus aureus (22.6%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (22.6%). Factors associated with bacteremia were: bums ≥ 20% TBSA (HR 11.06; 95% CI 4.8-25.4), deep second degree bums or higher (HR 6.9; 95% CI 2.0-23.3) and have had two or less debridement (HR 26.4; 95% CI 8.0-87.7).
Conclusions: Patients with more extensive and deep burns with fewer debridement are at increased risk of bacteremia.