Blood Culture and Troponin Testing in Suspected Bacteraemic Admissions - Example of Risk Stratification Based on Clinical Testing

Acute Med. 2022;21(4):176-181. doi: 10.52964/AMJA.0921.

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the clinical predictive value of troponin (hscTnT) and blood culture testing.

Methods: We examined all medical admissions from 2011-2020. Prediction of 30-day in-hospital mortality, dependent on blood culture and hscTnT requests/results, was evaluated using multiple variable logistic regression. Length of stay was related to utilization of procedures/services with truncated Poisson regression.

Results: There were 77,566 admissions in 42,325 patients. With both blood cultures and hscTnT requested, 30-day in-hospital mortality increased to 20.9% (95%CI: 19.7, 22.1) vs 8.9% (95%CI: 8.5, 9.4) for blood cultures alone and 2.3% (95%CI: 2.2, 2.4) with neither. Blood culture 3.93 (95%CI: 3.50, 4.42) or hsTnT requests 4.58 (95%CI: 4.10, 5.14) were prognostic.

Conclusion: Blood culture and hscTnT requests and results predict worse outcomes.

MeSH terms

  • Bacteremia*
  • Biomarkers
  • Blood Culture*
  • Hospitalization
  • Humans
  • Prognosis
  • Risk Assessment
  • Troponin
  • Troponin T

Substances

  • Troponin T
  • Troponin
  • Biomarkers