Late-Onset Invasive Staphylococcus Aureus Infection Disproportionately Impacts Infants With Very Low Birth Weight, Study Finds

Infectious Disease Advisor (6/30, Basilio) reports a study found that “mortality attributable to late-onset invasive Staphylococcus aureus infection disproportionately affects infants with very low birth weight (VLBW).” Researchers observed that “the incidence of late-onset invasive S aureus (per 10,000 hospitalized infants) was 37.6. The researchers noted infection incidence was lower for infants without VLBW than in those with VLBW and those with birth weights below 750 g. Owing to these data, the researchers noted VLBW was inversely correlated with disease incidence and highlighted similar findings for gestational age.” In addition, a matched analysis found that “infants with late-onset invasive S aureus infection showed higher rates of all-cause mortality than those without infection. Infants with VLBW exhibited more than double the overall rate of all-cause mortality than those without VLBW and accounted for nearly all (90.4%) mortality events within the culture-positive cohort.” The study was published in JAMA Pediatrics.