incidence, clinicomicrobiological characteristics, risk factors, and treatment outcomes of bacterial infections following liver transplantation in pediatrics: a retrospective cohort study

Background: liver transplantation (lt) is the definitive treatment for patients with advanced liver failure. bacterial infections are common consequences of organ transplantation resulting from immune suppression and prolonged hospitalization. methods: this retrospective cohort study examined the records of all liver transplant pediatrics under 18 years of age in abu-ali sina hospital, shiraz, fars province, iran, from april 2019 to february 2020. demographic, laboratory, and clinical data were extracted along with the administered therapeutic approach for the patient. results: of 80 enrolled patients, 52 were male, and 28 were female, with a median age of 60 months. an incidence of 67.9% of bacterial infections was recorded. gram-negative and gram-positive pathogens accounted for 64.06% and 35.93% of infections, respectively. surgical site infections were the most common ones. the length of icu stay, hospitalization, mechanical ventilation duration, and re-hospitalization were significantly higher in the infected group than in non-infected pediatrics (p-value < 0.05). multivariate regression analysis showed that the only risk factor for bacterial infections after lt was the length of icu stay. the mortality rate was 22%, which was significantly higher among the infection group (p = 0.008). conclusions: a high rate of bacterial infections and an increasing prevalence of nosocomial and antibiotic-resistant pathogens were detected in the early period after lt.