Impact of antimicrobial treatment duration on outcome of Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia: a cohort study

To assess the outcome of Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) according to factors associated with necessity for longer treatment in conjunction with the duration of treatment. We prospectively collected the data of patients with SAB consecutively during 12 to 39 months from 11 hospitals. If multiple episodes of SAB occurred in one patient, only the first episode was enrolled. Factors associated with necessity for longer treatment were defined as follows: persistent bacteraemia, metastatic infection, prosthesis and endocarditis. If any of the factors were present, then the case was defined as longer antibiotic treatment warranted (LW) group; those without any factors were defined as shorter antibiotic treatment sufficient (SS) group. Poor outcome was defined as a composite of 90-day mortality or 30-day recurrence. Duration of antibiotic administration was classified as