Attributable mortality of Acinetobacter baumannii infections in critically ill patients: a systematic review of matched cohort and case-control studies

Matthew E Falagas 0 1 Ioannis A Bliziotis 1 Ilias I Siempos 1 0 Department of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine , 136 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02111 , USA 1 Alfa Institute of Biomedical Sciences (AIBS) , 9 Neapoleos Street, 151 23 Marousi , Greece Introduction There has been a continuing controversy about whether infection with Acinetobacter baumannii increases morbidity and mortality independently of the effect of other confounding factors. Methods We performed a systematic review of matched casecontrol and cohort studies examining the mortality attributable to infection with or acquisition of A. baumannii (infection or colonization). We included in our review studies that compared mortality and/or morbidity of patients with acquisition of or infection with A. baumannii (cases) with the outcomes of matched patients without A. baumannii isolation from clinical specimens (controls). The relevant studies were identified from searches of the PubMed and the Cochrane Library databases. Two independent reviewers performed the literature search, study selection, and data extraction from nine identified relevant studies. - Flow diagram of reviewed articles. A. baumannii (cases) with the outcomes of matched patients without A. baumannii isolation from clinical specimens (controls). Data extraction We extracted data about the date, setting, and patient population from the studies selected. In addition, the site of infection, the numbers of cases and controls, the methodology for the matching of controls to cases, and clinical outcomes of interest were extracted. Conclusion The evidence from the reviewed matched case-control and combat them. Key messages Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors' contributions MEF had the idea, designed and supervised the study, and is (...truncated)