Mortality-associated factors in infected lymphoma patients

Three hundred eighty-eight medical records of patients with lymphoma seen between 1971 and 1980 were analyzed for factors related to infection-associated mortality. Infection occurred in 100 patients (36 Hodgkin's lymphoma [HL], and 64 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma [NHL]). The overall mortality with infection was 17% (6 of 36) for HL and 52% (33 of 64) for NHL. In patients with NHL mortality correlated with infection in the respiratory tract (P less than or equal to 0.0001), blood (P less than or equal to 0.003), and multiple sites (P less than or equal to 0.0004) and with the following factors: granulocytopenia (P less than or equal to 0.05), thrombocytopenia (P less than or equal to 0.035), and cytotoxic therapy (P less than or equal to 0.034). Patients with HL showed a positive correlation only with staphylococcal infections (P less than or equal to 0.001) and monocytopenia (P less than or equal to 0.01). The above data may be used to generate a risk factor profile of patients at greater risk of mortality associated with such infections. Advance knowledge of such a profile may assist in the clinical management of these high-risk patients.