201 Female sex and mortality in SAB 9 Table 3. Summary of studies focused on sex differences in mortality in patients with S. aureus bacteraemia Study Years of patient inclusion Country Number of patients MSSA or MRSA Outcome Forsblom et al [9] Infection 2018 1999-2002 2006-2007 Finland 617 MSSA • No difference in 90day mortality between sexes Kang et al [8] CMI 2018 2009-2017 South Korea 1974 MSSA and MRSA • No difference in overall mortality between sexes • Higher mortality in males with CCWI ≤ 3 and MRSA Smit et al [3] CMI 2017 2000-2011 Denmark 2638 MSSA • Higher 30-day mortality in females (29 vs 22%; aHR 1.30) Mansur et al [7] Gend Med 2012 1988-2007 Israel 1293 MSSA and MRSA • Higher 30-day mortality in females (45 vs 35%; OR 1.54) Although men and women with SAB in our study had similar outcomes, their characteristics differed significantly. For example, less than half (43%) of admitted patients with SAB were female, whereas 51% of the North Carolinian population is female [28]. This suggests a lower a priori risk of SAB in female than male patients and is consistent with previous reports [27]. Although different health-seeking behaviour between sexes has been suggested [5], in our study both men and women had a median of 2 days from start of symptoms until diagnosis. Female patients had higher rates of MRSA compared with males, possibly due in part to a higher prevalence of haemodialysis dependence, healthcare exposure, corticosteroid therapy and other well-described risk factors for MRSA [29-31]. Interestingly, rates of bacteraemia with
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