Timing and prediction of secondary bacteremia in patients with COVID-19: A retrospective cohort study

We aimed to aid the appropriate use of antimicrobial agents by determining the timing of secondary bacteremia and validating and updating clinical prediction models for bacteremia in patients with COVID-19.

We performed a retrospective cohort study on all hospitalized patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who underwent blood culture tests from January 1, 2020, and September 30, 2021, at an urban teaching hospital in Japan. The primary outcome measure was secondary bacteremia in patients with COVID-19.

Of the 507 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, 169 underwent blood culture tests. Eleven of them had secondary bacteremia. The majority of secondary bacteremia occurred on or later than the 9th day after symptom onset. Positive blood culture samples collected on day 9 or later after disease onset had an odds ratio of 22.4 (95% CI 2.76-181.2, p < 0.001) compared with those collected less than 9 days after onset. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the modified Shapiro rule combined with blood culture collection on or after the 9th day from onset was 0.919 (95% CI, 0.843-0.995), and the net benefit was high according to the decision curve analysis.

The timings of symptom onset and hospital admission may be valuable indicators for making a clinical decision to perform blood cultures in patients hospitalized with COVID-19.