Definitive diagnosis of study patients.

Bacteremia, a critical condition that can lead to sepsis, is often diagnosed using blood cultures, which may yield false positives, leading to unnecessary treatments. Although clinical indicators, such as shaking chills and food consumption, have been identified as predictors of bacteremia, their diagnostic accuracy in outpatients, particularly when considering the timing of blood collection, remains unclear. This study aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of self-reported food consumption and shaking chills in detecting bacteremia, focusing on the time interval between the last meal and blood culture collection. This prospective, multicenter, observational study included outpatients aged > 16 years who could eat orally and underwent blood cultures in the emergency or general medicine department from April 2019 to March 2021. Food consumption before blood culture was self-reported using a medical questionnaire and categorized as “normal” (≥80%) or “poor” (