Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings April 2014, Volume 27, Number 2 | Page 11

by 27.5% for the overall patient population
and 28.6% for the patients in the surgery
group. Patients with MRSA nasal colonizaVariable
Surgical (N = 31,784) Nonsurgical (N = 40,528) P value
tion are at a significant increased risk for the
Age at admit, mean ± SD (years)
50.7 ± 18.5
56.9 ± 19.3
<.0001
development of MRSA infections. Stenehjem
Male
11,667 (37%)
17,798 (44%)
and colleagues demonstrated this regardless
Female
20,109 (63%)
22,728 (56%)
<.0001
of the quantitative burden detected on PCR
screening. During their study period, 4.3%
Race
of noncarriers developed a MRSA infection
White
21,021 (67%)
22,194 (55%)
compared with 18.5% and 17.2% of low- and
African American
5,820 (19%)
12,653 (31%)
high-burden patients, respectively (12).
Hispanic
3,705 (12%)
4,619 (11%)
Previous studies have demonstrated a
Asian
373 (1.2%)
332 (0.8%)
greater than twofold increased incidence of
Other
473 (1.5%)
574 (1.4%)
<.0001
MRSA infections among African Americans,
66.5 per 100,000, versus t