Connect
MJA
MJA

Risk of death from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia: a meta-analysis

James C Hurley
Med J Aust 2002; 176 (4): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2002.tb04355.x
Published online: 18 February 2002

To the Editor: I write to offer a re-analysis of the data presented by Whitby and colleagues.1 They reported a meta-analysis of crude estimates and relative risk of death derived from nine published studies for Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia. They concluded that bacteraemia caused by methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) is associated with a "real increase in risk of death" compared with bacteraemia caused by methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA), with a relative risk of 2.12. However, they failed to explore fully the possible confounding effect of the patients' underlying diseases and treatment in their analysis.


  • 20 Drummond St North, Ballarat, VIC.


Correspondence: drjameshurley@bigpond.com

  • 1. Whitby M, McLaws M-L, Berry G. Risk of death from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia: a meta-analysis. Med J Aust 2001; 175: 264-267.
  • 2. Whitby M, McLaws M-L, Berry G. Risk of death from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia: a meta-analysis. Med J Aust 2001; 175: 264-267.
  • 3. Armitage P, Berry G. Statistical methods in medical research. 3rd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Science, 2001: 313.
  • 4. Rothman KJ. Modern epidemiology. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1986: 305.
  • 5. Selvey LA, Whitby M, Johnson B. Nosocomial methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia: Is it any worse than methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus? Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2000; 21: 645-648.
  • 6. Romero-Vivas J, Rubio M, Fernandez C, Picazo JJ. Mortality associated with nosocomial bacteremia due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Clin Infect Dis 1995; 21: 1417-1423.
  • 7. French GL, Cheng AF, Ling JM, et al. Hong Kong strains of methicillin-resistant and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus have similar virulence. J Hosp Infect 1990; 15: 117-125.
  • 8. Conterno LO, Wey SB, Castello A. Risk factors for mortality in Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1998; 19: 32-37.
  • 9. Topeli A, Unal S, Akalin HE. Risk factors influencing clinical outcome in Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia in a Turkish University hospital. Int J Antimicrob Agents 2000; 14: 57-63.

Author

remove_circle_outline Delete Author
add_circle_outline Add Author

Comment
Do you have any competing interests to declare? *

I/we agree to assign copyright to the Medical Journal of Australia and agree to the Conditions of publication *
I/we agree to the Terms of use of the Medical Journal of Australia *
Email me when people comment on this article

Online responses are no longer available. Please refer to our instructions for authors page for more information.