Fever, elevated CRP level, or SIRS criteria alone did not predict bacteremia, but when all three parameters were negative, bacteremia was present in fewer than 1% of patients.
Researchers assessed the value of temperature, C-reactive protein (CRP) level, and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria () for early identification of bacteremia in a population-based cohort study of more than 17,000 visits by adults to an emergency department in Denmark over a 2-year period.
Temperature, although one of the SIRS criteria, was analyzed separately as it is often the decisive factor for drawing blood cultures. Bacteremia was defined as a positive blood culture within the first 48 hours, elevated CRP was defined as a level >100 mg/L, and SIRS was considered present if two of four criteria were met.
Blood cultures were drawn for 46% of patients and were positive in 7.6% (corresponding to 3.5% of all pa…