Seven Years of Febrile Neutropenia in Internal Medicine Department

Abstract

Introduction: Febrile neutropenia remains a serious side effect of chemotherapy and is a major cause of morbidity and
mortality, as well as healthcare resource, and may compromise the efficacy of antineoplastic treatments by delaying
and dose reductions of chemotherapy. The data about oncological inpatients with febrile neutropenia is scarce on literature, so this study pretends to characterize this population in
a period of seven years at an internal medicine department
and knowing more about this medical approach.
Material and Methods: Observational cross-sectional study
between January 2008 and December 2014 at an internal
medicine department. Oncological patients were included,
with recent antineoplastic treatment hospitalized with diagnosis of febrile neutropenia. The clinical and demographic
data were collected based on medical records available on
the clinical process (in paper and in digital format).
Results: 156 inpatients were included in a total of 187 hospitalizations by febrile neutropenia. More than 50% was man,
with a median age of 67 years old and 63.0% had advanced
oncological disease. Fewer was present in 85.6% of admissions and 39.0% had severe neutropenia. Blood cultures
were collected in 77.9% of episodes and 20.0% had bacteraemia. Gram-negative agents were the most frequent and
the antibiotic association had a downward trend, being the
carbapenems the most used. Mortality rate was about 17.0%,
of which 62.5% had severe neutropenia and 75.0% stage IV.
Conclusion: The creation of protocols and their auditing
make it possible to evaluate the clinical work performed on
the service and to improve the health care provided