Risk factors for metastatic osteoarticular infections after a long follow-up of patients with Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia

Abstract We aimed to identify risk factors associated with the development of haematogenous metastatic osteoarticular infection (MOI) after an episode of Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB). We followed 198 patients with SAB during a median of 68.9 months. Nine (4.54%) developed an MOI (median: 6.77 months) after SAB. Factors associated with MOI were the presence of joint prosthesis (hazard ratio 17.56; 95% CI 4.48–68.85) and osteoporosis (hazard ratio 8.46; 95% CI 1.9–37.57). MOI is a common complication after SAB and is related to high morbidity and mortality. Patients with previous osteoarticular disease are at the greatest risk of developing this complication.