Time to positivity as a prognostic factor in bloodstream infections with Enterococcus spp

Time to positivity (TTP) is the delay of time from incubation to blood culture positivity. Short TTP can predict mortality and source of infection. The aim of this study was to investigate the value of TTP of patients with bloodstream infections with enterococci (E-BSI).In a single centre retrospective cohort study in Germany, the data of 244 patients with monomicrobial E-BSI were analyzed with hospital mortality as the primary outcome of interest from January 1 2014 to December 31 2016. Mortality rate of patients with bloodstream infections (BSI) with E. faecalis was 16.7%, Vancomycin sensitive E. faecium (VSEfm) 26.7% and Vancomycin resistant E. faecium (VREfm) 38.2%. Cut-offs showed a significantly higher mortality rate when compared to longer TTP (E. faecalis: P=0.047; VSEfm: P=0.02), but were not risk factors in survival analysis (E.faecalis: HR (hazard ratio): 2.73; P=0.17; VSEfm: HR: 1.63; P=0.15; VREfm: HR: 1.24; P=0.63). TTP≤10.5 hours with E. faecalis BSI was a discriminator for cardiovascular source of infection (AUC: 0.75). A short TTP could predict mortality rates and source of infection but was not an independent parameter for risk of death in survival analysis.