A study of fever causes in neutropenic patients hospitalized in oncology ward of Imam-Sajjad Hospital in Ramsar

Neutropenia is the strongest factor associated with infection in neutropenic patients with immunodeficiency and under immunosuppressive medication with fever being the most important indicator of infection in neutropenic patients. Since infections are the commonest cause of death in these patients, this study was performed to determine the causes of fever in neutropenic patients. This cross-sectional study was performed on 63 patients hospitalized with febrile neutropenia, admitted in the oncology ward of Imam Sajjad Hospital during 2006-2011. Sampling was performed by available sampling techniques and data collection was performed by checklist. The data were analyzed using statistical software SPSS 16. The significance level was considered to be less than 0.05 in this study.Out of the total number of patients, 39.7% were male and 60.3% female. The mean age of patients was 51.83 ± 17.06 years. Culture was positive in 54% patients (33.36% F, 20.64% M). The most common types of infection were urinary tract (14.3%) and respiratory infections (7.9%). The most common isolated microorganism was Escherichia Coli (26.5%). The findings of most studies show that gram-positive bacteria are the most common cause of fever in neutropenic patients.