Febrile neutropenia in the nationwide inpatient sample: In-hospital outcomes and impact of cormobidities in 2007-2012.

Abstract

e18103 Background: Febrile Neutropenia (FN) is associated with significant in-patient morbidity and mortality. The goal of this study is to describe the in-patient outcomes of febrile neutropenia as well as the impact of comorbid conditions through a large national dataset. Methods: Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) for years 2007-2012, FN was defined as ICD-9 codes 288.0x for a primary discharge diagnosis of neutropenia in conjunction with 780.61 and 780.6 for fever in cancer patients. Linear regression analysis assessed for annual trends in in-hospital mortality, length of stay (LOS), and cost of stay (COS). Seasonal variations in admission rates were evaluated using ANOVA. We employed univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis to elucidate the relationship between common comorbid conditions and mortality. Results: Among 55,253 cancer patients (weighted N = 264,384) admitted with FN between 2007 and 2012, there is a mean decrease in LOS from 5.78 to 5.47 days (p < 0.0001), an increase in COS from $33,939 to $41,395 (p < 0.0001), and a 12-15% drop in hospital admissions in winter months. Mortality rate is unchanged annually (1.06-1.28%). Univariate analysis identified an increased risk of mortality associated with atrial fibrillation (OR = 4.06), coronary artery disease (OR = 2.09), congestive heart failure (OR 4.39), hypertension (1.20), COPD (OR 2.33) pancytopenia (OR 1.81), and adrenal insufficiency (OR 5.32). All remained significant on multivariate analysis, except hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Conclusions: Between 2007-2012, FN had a slight decrease in length of stay, unchanged in-patient mortality and a 22% increase in hospitalization costs. Our results are in line with recently presented analyses of the same database (Blood 2016 128:4762, Blood 2016 128:5904). Comorbid conditions are associated with higher in-patient mortality, with up to 5-fold increase for those with atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure and adrenal insufficiency. Clinicians should consider the significant impact of such comorbidities. Additional vigilance and potentially prophylactic antibiotics following treatment should be considered in affected patients.