Nakada-Motokawa N, Miyazaki T, Ueda T, et al. - Researchers constructed a scoring system that may aid in predicting mortality in candidemia patients.

• Reviewing medical records at five Japanese tertiary hospitals, a total of 422 candidemia patients were included.

• Following were identified as independent risk factors for all-cause 30-day mortality: higher Pitt bacteremia score (PBS: a commonly used score to predict the risk of mortality in cases with bacteremia), dialysis, and retainment of central venous catheter.

• A modified version of the PBS (mPBS) was developed by replacing its fever component with dialysis.

• There was a statistically significant increase in the predictive ability of mPBS for 30-day mortality.

• On stratifying patients by mPBS into low (scores 0–3), moderate (4–7), and high risk (≥ 8), significant differences were recorded among the survival curves; 30-day mortality rates were 13.8%, 36.8%, and 69.4%, for the 3 groups, respectively.