Prevalence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Pediatric Osteomyelitis and Septic Arthritis in Last One and a Half Decade and Its Association with Adverse Clinical Outcome

BACKGROUND: The methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) pediatric osteomyelitis and septic arthritis have been associated with more complications than other organisms. However, there is no large sample study available to provide data of causative organisms. METHODS: We performed a retrospective chart review study from 2003-2017 (15 years) records with diagnosis codes for osteomyelitis and septic arthritis in patients from age 0 to 18 years who underwent surgery in form of debridement or incision and drainage. We explored culture and organism reports to find out presence of MRSA. We compared the prevalence of MRSA in patients who underwent single surgery with patients who underwent more than one surgeries. RESULTS: A total of 753 patients were included. Patients with follow up less than one year and incomplete data were excluded. Of these, 22.84% (172/753) patients were culture positive for MRSA. In a group of multiple washout patients, prevalence of MRSA was 50.92% (55/108). In the other group of single procedure patients, prevalence of MRSA was 18.13% (117/645). The relative risk of multiple surgery in MRSA positive patients were 4.42 (p