Clinical Features and Outcomes of Enterococcal Bone and Joint Infections and Factors Associated with Treatment Failure over a 13-Year Period in a French Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Enterococcal bone and joint infections (BJIs) are reported to have poor outcomes, but there are conflicting results. This study aimed to describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with enterococcal BJI and to assess the factors associated with treatment failure. We conducted a retrospective cohort study at Nimes University Hospital from January 2007 to December 2020. The factors associated with treatment failure were assessed using a Cox model. We included 90 consecutive adult patients, 11 with native BJIs, 40 with prosthetic joint infections and 39 with orthopedic implant-associated infections. Two-thirds of patients had local signs of infection, but few (9%) had fever. Most BJIs were caused by Enterococcus faecalis (n = 82, 91%) and were polymicrobial (n = 75, 83%). The treatment failure rate was 39%, and treatment failure was associated with coinfection with Staphylococcus epidermidis (adjusted hazard ratio = 3.04, confidence interval at 95% [1.31–7.07], p = 0.01) and with the presence of local signs of inflammation at the time of diagnosis (aHR = 2.39, CI 95% [1.22–4.69], p = 0.01). Our results confirm the poor prognosis of enterococcal BJIs, prompting clinicians to carefully monitor for local signs of infection and to optimize the medical-surgical management in case of coinfections, especially with S. epidermidis.