Predictive modeling of bacterial infections and antibiotic therapy needs in critically ill adults

Unnecessary antibiotic regimens in the intensive care unit (ICU) are associated with adverse patient outcomes and antimicrobial resistance. Bacterial infections (BI) are both common and deadly in ICUs, and as a result, patients with a suspected BI are routinely started on broad-spectrum antibiotics prior to having confirmatory microbiologic culture results or when an occult BI is suspected, a practice known as empiric antibiotic therapy (EAT). However, EAT guidelines lack consensus and existing methods to quantify patient-level BI risk rely largely on clinical judgement and inaccurate biomarkers or expensive diagnostic tests. As a consequence, patients with low risk of BI often are continued on EAT, exposing them to unnecessary side effects. Augmenting current intuition-based practices with data-driven predictions of BI risk could help inform clinical decisions to shorten the duration of unnecessary EAT and improve patient outcomes. We propose a novel framework to identify ICU patients with low risk of BI as candidates for earlier EAT discontinuation. For this study, patients suspected of having a community-acquired BI were identified in the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) dataset and categorized based on microbiologic culture results and EAT duration. Using structured longitudinal data collected up to 24-, 48-, and 72-hours after starting EAT, our best models identified patients at low risk of BI with AUROCs up to 0.8 and negative predictive values >93%. Overall, these results demonstrate the feasibility of forecasting BI risk in a critical care setting using patient features found in the electronic health record and call for more extensive research in this promising, yet relatively understudied, area.

An ethnographic exploration of diarrheal disease management in public hospitals in Bangladesh: From problems to solutions

INTRODUCTION

Diarrheal disease is one of the most common causes of hospital admission globally. The barriers that influence guideline-adherent care at resource limited hospitals are poorly defined, especially during diarrheal disease outbreaks. The objective of this study was to characterize challenges faced in diarrheal disease management in resource-limited hospitals and identify opportunities to improve care.

METHODS

The study was conducted during a diarrheal disease outbreak period at ten public district hospitals distributed across Bangladesh. A rapid ethnographic approach included observations and informal interviews with clinicians, staff nurses and patients. In the first phase, observations identified common and unique challenges in diarrheal management at the ten sites. In the second phase, four hospitals were purposively selected for additional ethnographic study. Systematic observations over 420 total hours were collected from patient-clinician interactions (n = 76) and informal interviews (n = 138). Applied thematic analysis identified factors that influenced hospitalbased diarrhea management.

RESULTS

Normalization of guideline deviation was observed at all ten sites, including prescription of non-indicated antibiotics and intravenous (IV) fluids. Conflict between 'what should be done' and 'what can be done' was the most common challenge identified. Clinical assessments and patient treatment plans were established at admission in a median of 2 minutes (n = 76), often without a physical examination (57%; n=43/76). Factors that prevented adherence to clinical guidelines included human resource constraints, conflicts of interests, overcrowding, and inadequate hygiene and sanitation in the emergency department and wards.

CONCLUSION

This study identified challenges in hospital-based management of diarrheal disease and opportunities to improve care in seemingly change-resilient hospital settings. The results reveal important areas for intervention and policy engagement that may have additive benefit for both hospitals and their patients. These interventions include targeting barriers to clean-water, sanitation and hygiene that prevent clinicians from adopting guidelines out of concern for hospital acquired infections.

Machine learning models predicting multidrug resistant urinary tract infections using "DsaaS"

BACKGROUND

The scope of this work is to build a Machine Learning model able to predict patients risk to contract a multidrug resistant urinary tract infection (MDR UTI) after hospitalization. To achieve this goal, we used different popular Machine Learning tools. Moreover, we integrated an easy-to-use cloud platform, called DSaaS (Data Science as a Service), well suited for hospital structures, where healthcare operators might not have specific competences in using programming languages but still, they do need to analyze data as a continuous process. Moreover, DSaaS allows the validation of data analysis models based on supervised Machine Learning regression and classification algorithms.

RESULTS

We used DSaaS on a real antibiotic stewardship dataset to make predictions about antibiotic resistance in the Clinical Pathology Operative Unit of the Principe di Piemonte Hospital in Senigallia, Marche, Italy. Data related to a total of 1486 hospitalized patients with nosocomial urinary tract infection (UTI). Sex, age, age class, ward and time period, were used to predict the onset of a MDR UTI. Machine Learning methods such as Catboost, Support Vector Machine and Neural Networks were utilized to build predictive models. Among the performance evaluators, already implemented in DSaaS, we used accuracy (ACC), area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC), area under Precision-Recall curve (AUC-PRC), F1 score, sensitivity (SEN), specificity and Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC). Catboost exhibited the best predictive results (MCC 0.909; SEN 0.904; F1 score 0.809; AUC-PRC 0.853, AUC-ROC 0.739; ACC 0.717) with the highest value in every metric.

CONCLUSIONS

the predictive model built with DSaaS may serve as a useful support tool for physicians treating hospitalized patients with a high risk to acquire MDR UTIs. We obtained these results using only five easy and fast predictors accessible for each patient hospitalization. In future, DSaaS will be enriched with more features like unsupervised Machine Learning techniques, streaming data analysis, distributed calculation and big data storage and management to allow researchers to perform a complete data analysis pipeline. The DSaaS prototype is available as a demo at the following address: https://dsaas-demo.shinyapps.io/Server/.

Clinical Practice Guideline Nonadherence and Patient Outcomes in Pediatric Appendicitis

BACKGROUND

Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have been associated with improved patient outcomes. We aimed to evaluate institutional CPG adherence and hypothesized that adherence would be associated with fewer complications in pediatric appendicitis.

METHODS

A retrospective review was conducted of pediatric (<18 y) appendicitis patients who underwent appendectomy (6/1/2017-5/30/2018). Patients were managed using an institutional pediatric appendicitis CPG. The primary outcome was CPG adherence, defined as receipt of preoperative antibiotics at diagnosis, surgical prophylaxis before incision, and, in perforated/gangrenous appendicitis, continued postoperative antibiotics, and prescription for discharge antibiotics. Univariate and multivariate analyzes were performed.

RESULTS

Among 399 patients, the baseline characteristics were similar between CPG-adherent and nonadherent patients. Overall CPG adherence was low at 55% (n = 221). Only 58% of patients received preoperative antibiotics per protocol (n = 233). Patients with simple appendicitis were more likely to proceed to surgery without receiving any preoperative antibiotics (35% vs. 21%, P = 0.004). Surgical prophylaxis compliance was high at 97% (n = 389). CPG violation was associated with reoperation (n = 5 versus 0, P = 0.02). After adjusting for age and admission white blood cell count, the association between CPG adherence and postoperative surgical site infection or intra-abdominal abscess remained nonsignificant (OR: 1.2, 95% CI: 0.5-2.5).

CONCLUSIONS

Despite a long-standing pediatric appendicitis CPG, adherence with antibiotic components of the CPG was poor. CPG violation was significantly associated with reoperation, but was not associated with other postoperative complications. Regular audits of CPG adherence are necessary to ascertain reasons for noncompliance and identify ways to improve adherence.

Antibiotics: easier to start than to stop? Predictors of antimicrobial stewardship recommendation acceptance

OBJECTIVES

Acceptance of prospective audit and feedback antimicrobial stewardship programme (ASP) recommendations has been shown to vary, but the drivers of recommendation acceptance are not well understood. We sought to identify the factors associated with recommendation acceptance at a large community teaching hospital.

METHODS

Data from an ASP recommendation registry were collected from 2010 to 2018. Variables included data about the infection, the prescriber, and the recommendation, categorized by whether they increase, decrease, or are neutral to antibiotic exposure. The primary outcome was acceptance of ASP recommendations. Adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated using logistic regression models with random intercepts in order to account for clustering by prescriber.

RESULTS

Over the 8-year period, a total of 11 014 evaluable recommendations were made to 146 prescribers, and 9058 (82.2%) were accepted. The most common recommendations were: reduce duration (n = 2796; 25%), stop antibiotics (n = 2184; 20%), de-escalate (n = 1876; 17%) and increase duration (n = 1176; 11%). Acceptance by service ranged from 70% (n = 843/1196) (surgery) to 86% (n = 6378/7444) (general medicine). In the multivariable analysis, compared to recommendations that have a neutral impact on antibiotic exposure, recommendations to decrease antibiotic exposure had lower odds of acceptance (aOR 0.73; 95%CI 0.64-0.84) while recommendations to increase exposure were associated with greater acceptance (aOR 2.00; 95%CI 1.62-2.45). Other factors associated with increased acceptance included the presence of the ASP physician during rounds and making the recommendation verbally.

CONCLUSIONS

Recommendations to decrease antibiotic exposure had lower odds of acceptance than those to increase antibiotic exposure. This study presents important considerations for ASPs with prospective audit and feedback programmes aiming to evaluate and increase the impact of their recommendations.

The effect of an antibiotic stewardship program on tigecycline use in a Tertiary Care Hospital, an intervention study

Background

A drug-oriented antibiotic stewardship intervention targeting tigecycline utilization was launched at Makassed General Hospital, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2016 as a part of a comprehensive Antibiotic Stewardship Program (ASP). In this study, we evaluated the effect of this intervention on changing tigecycline prescription behavior in different types of infections, patient outcome and mortality, along with tigecycline drug use density, when compared to an earlier period before the initiation of ASP.

Methods

This is a retrospective chart review of all adult inpatients who received tigecycline for more than 72 h between Jan-2012 and Dec-2013 [period (P) 1 before ASP] and between Oct-2016 and Dec-2018 [period (P) 2 during ASP].

Results

Tigecycline was administered to 153 patients during P1 and 116 patients during P2. The proportion of patients suffering from cancer, those requiring mechanical ventilation, and those with hemodynamic failure was significantly reduced between P1 and P2. The proportion of patients who received tigecycline for FDA-approved indications increased from 19% during P1 to 78% during P2 (P < 0.001). On the other hand, its use in off-label indications was restricted, including ventilator-associated pneumonia (26.1% in P1, 3.4% in P2, P < 0.001), hospital-acquired pneumonia (19.6% in P1, 5.2% in P2, P = 0.001), sepsis (9.2% in P1, 3% in P2, P = 0.028), and febrile neutropenia (15.7% in P1, 0.9% in P2, P < 0.001). The clinical success rate of tigecycline therapy showed an overall significant increase from 48.4% during P1 to 65.5% during P2 (P = 0.005) in the entire patient population. All-cause mortality in the tigecycline-treated patients decreased from 45.1% during P1 to 20.7% during P2 (P < 0.0001). In general, mean tigecycline consumption decreased by 55% between P1 and P2 (P < 0.0001).

Conclusion

The drug-oriented ASP intervention targeting tigecycline prescriptions improved its use and patient outcomes, where it helped curb the over-optimistic use of this drug in off-label indications where it is not a suitable treatment option.

Electronically Available Patient Claims Data Improve Models for Comparing Antibiotic Use Across Hospitals: Results from 576 U.S. Facilities

Background

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses standardized antimicrobial administration ratios (SAARs)—that is, observed-to-predicted ratios—to compare antibiotic use across facilities. CDC models adjust for facility characteristics when predicting antibiotic use but do not include patient diagnoses and comorbidities that may also affect utilization. This study aimed to identify comorbidities causally related to appropriate antibiotic use and to compare models that include these comorbidities and other patient-level claims variables to a facility model for risk-adjusting inpatient antibiotic utilization.

Methods

The study included adults discharged from Premier Database hospitals in 2016–2017. For each admission, we extracted facility, claims, and antibiotic data. We evaluated 7 models to predict an admission’s antibiotic days of therapy (DOTs): a CDC facility model, models that added patient clinical constructs in varying layers of complexity, and an external validation of a published patient-variable model. We calculated hospital-specific SAARs to quantify effects on hospital rankings. Separately, we used Delphi Consensus methodology to identify Elixhauser comorbidities associated with appropriate antibiotic use.

Results

The study included 11 701 326 admissions across 576 hospitals. Compared to a CDC-facility model, a model that added Delphi-selected comorbidities and a bacterial infection indicator was more accurate for all antibiotic outcomes. For total antibiotic use, it was 24% more accurate (respective mean absolute errors: 3.11 vs 2.35 DOTs), resulting in 31–33% more hospitals moving into bottom or top usage quartiles postadjustment.

Conclusions

Adding electronically available patient claims data to facility models consistently improved antibiotic utilization predictions and yielded substantial movement in hospitals’ utilization rankings.

Why do hospital prescribers continue antibiotics when it is safe to stop? Results of a choice experiment survey

BACKGROUND

Deciding whether to discontinue antibiotics at early review is a cornerstone of hospital antimicrobial stewardship practice worldwide. In England, this approach is described in government guidance ('Start Smart then Focus'). However, < 10% of hospital antibiotic prescriptions are discontinued at review, despite evidence that 20-30% could be discontinued safely. We aimed to quantify the relative importance of factors influencing prescriber decision-making at review.

METHODS

We conducted an online choice experiment, a survey method to elicit preferences. Acute/general hospital prescribers in England were asked if they would continue or discontinue antibiotic treatment in 15 hypothetical scenarios. Scenarios were described according to six attributes, including patients' presenting symptoms and whether discontinuation would conflict with local prescribing guidelines. Respondents' choices were analysed using conditional logistic regression.

RESULTS

One hundred respondents completed the survey. Respondents were more likely to continue antibiotics when discontinuation would 'strongly conflict' with local guidelines (average marginal effect (AME) on the probability of continuing + 0.194 (p < 0.001)), when presenting symptoms more clearly indicated antibiotics (AME of urinary tract infection symptoms + 0.173 (p < 0.001) versus unclear symptoms) and when patients had severe frailty/comorbidities (AME = + 0.101 (p < 0.001)). Respondents were less likely to continue antibiotics when under no external pressure to continue (AME = - 0.101 (p < 0.001)). Decisions were also influenced by the risks to patient health of continuing/discontinuing antibiotic treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

Guidelines that conflict with antibiotic discontinuation (e.g. pre-specify fixed durations) may discourage safe discontinuation at review. In contrast, guidelines conditional on patient factors/treatment response could help hospital prescribers discontinue antibiotics if diagnostic information suggesting they are no longer needed is available.

The 2017 global point prevalence survey of antimicrobial consumption and resistance in Canadian hospitals

BACKGROUND

Patient-level surveillance (indication, appropriate choice, dosing, route, duration) of antimicrobial use in Canadian hospitals is needed to reduce antimicrobial overuse and misuse. Patient-level surveillance has not been performed on a national level in Canada. The Global Point Prevalence Survey of Antimicrobial Consumption and Resistance (Global-PPS) is an international collaborative to monitor antimicrobial use and resistance in hospitals worldwide. Global-PPS locally documents on a single day patient-level antimicrobial prescribing practices. This article presents the results of the 2017 Global-PPS in Canadian hospitals with established antimicrobial stewardship programs.

METHODS

Hospitals part of the Canadian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance Program were invited to participate. Surveys could be performed any time in the 2017 calendar year. All in-patient wards in each hospital were surveyed by a physician, pharmacist or nurse with infectious disease training.

RESULTS

Fourteen Canadian hospitals participated in the survey. Of 4118 patients, 1400 patients (34.0%) received a total of 2041 antimicrobials. Overall, 73.1% (n = 1493) of antimicrobials were for therapeutic use, 14.2% (n = 288) were for medical prophylaxis, 8.3% (n = 170) were for surgical prophylaxis, 1.8% (n = 37) were for other reasons, and 0.2% (n = 3) were used as prokinetic agents. Only 2.5% (n = 50) were for unknown reasons. For antimicrobials for therapeutic use, 29.9% of patients were treated for lower respiratory tract (343/1147), 10.5% for intra-abdominal (120/1147), 9.3% for skin and soft tissue (107/1147) and 7.5% for gastro-intestinal (86/1147) infections.

CONCLUSIONS

Standardized methodology amongst Global-PPSs allows the comparison of our results to the 2015 Global-PPS. The prevalence of antimicrobial use on medical, surgical, and intensive care wards are similar to those previously observed in North America. Indication of antimicrobials has not been previously reported on such a large scale in Canadian hospitals. This report serves as a comparison for further point prevalence surveys that are currently underway. It will be used for identifying opportunities and benchmarking in antibiotic stewardship.

Antimicrobial stewardship in the primary care setting: from dream to reality?

BACKGROUND

Clinicians who work in primary care are potentially the most influential healthcare professionals to address the problem of antibiotic resistance because this is where most antibiotics are prescribed. Despite a number of evidence based interventions targeting the management of community infections, the inappropriate antibiotic prescribing rates remain high.

DISCUSSION

The question is how can appropriate prescribing of antibiotics through the use of Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) programs be successfully implemented in primary care. We discuss that a top-down approach utilising a combination of strategies to ensure the sustainable implementation and uptake of AMS interventions in the community is necessary to support clinicians and ensure a robust implementation of AMS in primary care. Specifically, we recommend a national accreditation standard linked to the framework of Core Elements of Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship, supported by resources to fund the implementation of AMS interventions that are connected to quality improvement initiatives. This article debates how this can be achieved. The paper highlights that in order to support the sustainable uptake of AMS programs in primary care, an approach similar to the hospital and post-acute care settings needs to be adopted, utilising a combination of behavioural and regulatory processes supported by sustainable funding. Without these strategies the problem of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing will not be adequately addressed in the community and the successful implementation and uptake of AMS programs will remain a dream.

Standardized Discharge Antibiotics May Reduce Readmissions in Pediatric Perforated Appendicitis

BACKGROUND

Based on limited evidence, the American Pediatric Surgical Association recommends 5-7 d of postoperative antibiotics in perforated appendicitis for preventing intra-abdominal abscess (IAA). In 2015, our institutional clinical practice guideline was modified to standardize prescription for 7 additional days of oral antibiotics after discharge. We hypothesized that prescribing oral antibiotics after discharge would be associated with fewer complications in perforated appendicitis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A retrospective cohort study was conducted of pediatric (younger than 18 y) patients who underwent laparoscopic appendectomy for perforated appendicitis (August 1, 2012-April 30, 2019). Patients diagnosed with IAA before discharge or with a postoperative length of stay ≥8 d were excluded. Patient outcomes were compared prestandardization and poststandardization of discharge antibiotics.

RESULTS

Of 617 patients, 212 (34.5%) were admitted prestandardization and 404 (65.5%) poststandardization. Overall, 409 patients (66.3%) received discharge antibiotics. The median total postoperative antibiotic duration was 4 d (interquartile range, 3-5) prestandardization versus 11 d (interquartile range, 10-12) poststandardization (P < 0.001). Prestandardization patients had a higher rate of IAA (8.9% versus 4.5%, P = 0.03) and were readmitted more frequently (13.1% versus 6.4%, P = 0.005). On adjusted analysis, admission poststandardization was associated with reduced odds of IAA (odds ratio, 0.51; 95% confidence interval, 0.25-1.06), but the relationship was imprecise. Admission poststandardization was significantly associated with reduced adjusted odds of readmission (odds ratio, 0.46; 95% confidence interval, 0.25-0.85).

CONCLUSIONS

Prescription for seven additional days of oral antibiotics after discharge was associated with reduced odds of readmission in pediatric perforated appendicitis. This population may benefit from a longer postoperative antibiotic course than currently recommended.

[Procalcitonin in the intensive care unit : Differential diagnostic and differential therapeutic possibilities]

Prokalzitonin (PCT) wird bei systemischen Inflammationszuständen IL6-, IL8- und TNF-α-vermittelt in multiplen Organen und Strukturen des Körpers gebildet. Dabei werden insbesondere bei der Sepsis deutlich erhöhte Werte gemessen. Die Höhe des PCT korreliert dabei gut mit der Krankheitsschwere, ein signifikanter Abfall unter Therapie mit der Prognose. In der differenzialdiagnostischen Abklärung kann die PCT-Bestimmung zwischen bakteriellen und viralen Infektionen unterscheiden. Nichtinfektiösbedingte inflammatorische Reaktionen können jedoch moderat erhöhte PCT-Werte zeigen. Cut-off-Werte sind abhängig von der renalen und hepatischen Funktion. Ein Therapiealgorithmus zur Antibiotikadauer mit PCT-Verlaufsbestimmungen kann den Antibiotikagebrauch reduzieren. In dieser Arbeit sollen die differenzialdiagnostischen und differenzialtherapeutischen Möglichkeiten einer Prokalzitoninbestimmung bei kritisch kranken Patienten erörtert werden.

Antibiotic modification versus withhold in febrile patients without evidence of bacterial infection, unresponsive to initial empiric regimen: a multicentre retrospective study conducted in Israel

Prescribing antibiotics for febrile patients without proof of bacterial infection contributes to antimicrobial resistance. Lack of clinical response in these patients often leads to antibiotic escalation, although data supporting this strategy are scarce. This study compared outcomes of modifying, withholding, or continuing the same antibiotic regimen for such patients. Febrile or hypothermic stable patients with suspected infection, unresponsive to empiric antibiotic treatment, admitted to one of 15 internal medicine departments in three hospitals during a 5-year study period, were included. Patients with a definitive clinical or microbiological bacterial infection, malignancy, immunodeficiency, altered mental status, or need for mechanical ventilation were excluded. Participants were divided into groups based on treatment strategy determined 72 h after antibiotic initiation: antibiotic modified, withheld or continued. Outcomes measured included in-hospital and 30-day post-discharge-mortality rates, length of hospital stay (LOS) and days of antimicrobial therapy (DOT). A total of 486 patients met the inclusion criteria: 124 in the Antibiotic modified group, 67 in the Antibiotic withheld group and 295 in the Initial antibiotic continued group. Patient characteristics were similar among groups with no differences in mortality rates in-hospital (23% vs. 25% vs. 20%, p = 0.58) and within 30 days after discharge (5% vs. 3% vs. 4%, p = 0.83). Changing antibiotics led to longer LOS (9.0 ± 6.8 vs. 6.2 ± 5.6 days, p = 0.003) and more DOT (8.6 ± 6.0 vs. 3.2 ± 1.0 days, p < 0.001) compared to withholding treatment. Withholding as compared to modifying antibiotics, in febrile patients with no clear evidence of bacterial infection, is a safe strategy associated with decreased LOS and DOT.

Performance and impact of a multiplex PCR in ICU patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia or ventilated hospital-acquired pneumonia

BACKGROUND

Early appropriate antibiotic therapy reduces morbidity and mortality of severe pneumonia. However, the emergence of bacterial resistance requires the earliest use of antibiotics with the narrowest possible spectrum. The Unyvero Hospitalized Pneumonia (HPN, Curetis) test is a multiplex PCR (M-PCR) system detecting 21 bacteria and 19 resistance genes on respiratory samples within 5 h. We assessed the performance and the potential impact of the M-PCR on the antibiotic therapy of ICU patients.

METHODS

In this prospective study, we performed a M-PCR on bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) or plugged telescoping catheter (PTC) samples of patients with ventilated HAP or VAP with Gram-negative bacilli or clustered Gram-positive cocci. This study was conducted in 3 ICUs in a French academic hospital: the medical and infectious diseases ICU, the surgical ICU, and the cardio-surgical ICU. A multidisciplinary expert panel simulated the antibiotic changes they would have made if the M-PCR results had been available.

RESULTS

We analyzed 95 clinical samples of ventilated HAP or VAP (72 BAL and 23 PTC) from 85 patients (62 males, median age 64 years). The median turnaround time of the M-PCR was 4.6 h (IQR 4.4-5). A total of 90/112 bacteria were detected by the M-PCR system with a global sensitivity of 80% (95% CI, 73-88%) and specificity of 99% (95% CI 99-100). The sensitivity was better for Gram-negative bacteria (90%) than for Gram-positive cocci (62%) (p = 0.005). Moreover, 5/8 extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (CTX-M gene) and 4/4 carbapenemases genes (3 NDM, one oxa-48) were detected. The M-PCR could have led to the earlier initiation of an effective antibiotic in 20/95 patients (21%) and to early de-escalation in 37 patients (39%) but could also have led to one (1%) inadequate antimicrobial therapy. Among 17 empiric antibiotic treatments with carbapenems, 10 could have been de-escalated in the following hours according to the M-PCR results. The M-PCR also led to 2 unexpected diagnosis of severe legionellosis confirmed by culture methods.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that the use of a M-PCR system for respiratory samples of patients with VAP and ventilated HAP could improve empirical antimicrobial therapy and reduce the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics.

Antibiotic prescribing in UK care homes 2016-2017: retrospective cohort study of linked data

BACKGROUND

Older people living in care homes are particularly susceptible to infections and antibiotics are therefore used frequently for this population. However, there is limited information on antibiotic prescribing in this setting. This study aimed to investigate the frequency, patterns and risk factors for antibiotic prescribing in a large chain of UK care homes.

METHODS

Retrospective cohort study of administrative data from a large chain of UK care homes (resident and care home-level) linked to individual-level pharmacy data. Residents aged 65 years or older between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2017 were included. Antibiotics were classified by type and as new or repeated prescriptions. Rates of antibiotic prescribing were calculated and modelled using multilevel negative binomial regression.

RESULTS

13,487 residents of 135 homes were included. The median age was 85; 63% residents were female. 28,689 antibiotic prescriptions were dispensed, the majority were penicillins (11,327, 39%), sulfonamides and trimethoprim (5818, 20%), or other antibacterials (4665, 16%). 8433 (30%) were repeat prescriptions. The crude rate of antibiotic prescriptions was 2.68 per resident year (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.64-2.71). Increased antibiotic prescribing was associated with residents requiring more medical assistance (adjusted incidence rate ratio for nursing opposed to residential care 1.21, 95% CI 1.13-1.30). Prescribing rates varied widely by care home but there were no significant associations with the care home-level characteristics available in routine data.

CONCLUSIONS

Rates of antibiotic prescribing in care homes are high and there is substantial variation between homes. Further research is needed to understand the drivers of this variation to enable development of effective stewardship approaches that target the influences of prescribing.

The value of biomarker-guided antibiotic therapy

INTRODUCTION

There is an increasing interest to individualize patient management and decisions regarding antibiotic treatment. Biomarkers may provide relevant information for this purpose.

AREAS COVERED

Despite a growing number of clinical trials investigating several biomarkers, there remain open questions regarding the best type of biomarker, timing or frequency of testing, and optimal cutoffs among others. The most promising results in regard to diagnosis of bacterial infection and therapy monitoring are found for procalcitonin (PCT), although some recent trials were not able to validate the promising earlier findings. Furthermore, less specific markers like C-reactive protein (CRP) and new prognostic biomarkers such as proadrenomedullin (MR-proADM) may improve the prognostic assessment of patients and proteomics may help shorten time to microbiological results. The aim of this review is to summarize the current concept of biomarker-guided management and provide an outlook of promising ongoing investigations.

EXPERT OPINION

'Antibiotic stewardship' is complex and needs more than just the measurement of one single biomarker. However, when integrated into the context of a thorough clinical examination, standard blood parameters and a well done risk stratification by clinical scores such as the SOFA-score, biomarkers have great potential to improve the diagnostic and prognostic assessment of patients.

Outcome of upper respiratory tract infections in healthy children: Antibiotic stewardship in treatment of acute upper respiratory tract infections

Objective

The objective of the study was to assess the outcome of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) in healthy children.

Methods

This descriptive study was conducted on 314 children aged 3-36 months in the paediatric outpatient clinic and emergency department with symptoms of URTI (fever, cough, rhinorrhoea) for ≤5 days. Patient's demographics, clinical features, laboratory data and outcome were recorded. Follow up phone calls were made to parents on day 7 (response 93.6%) and day 14 (response 94.6%) to record outcome.

Results

A total of 314 children with URTIs were included. Majority (57.6%) were males and <1year of age (40%). Common manifestations of URTI were fever (89%), cough (79%), rhinorrhoea (62%), pharyngitis (79%) and conjunctivitis (46%). More than half (53%) had history of contact with URTI in a family member. Mean duration of symptoms was 2.7±1.3 days. Majority (93%) of children were given supportive treatment and only 6.7% received antibiotics initially. Most of children (76%) recovered within one week and 91.8% within two weeks with supportive care only. Only 4% children were hospitalized and 12% required follow up visit of which 16% needed oral antibiotics. Complications or deaths did not occur.

Conclusions

Majority of URTIs in healthy children resolved with supportive treatment and do not require antibiotics. Antibiotic stewardship in simple URTIs should be practiced using awareness and advocacy campaigns.

Duration of antibiotic therapy in critically ill patients: a randomized controlled trial of a clinical and C-reactive protein-based protocol versus an evidence-based best practice strategy without biomarkers

Background

The rational use of antibiotics is one of the main strategies to limit the development of bacterial resistance. We therefore sought to evaluate the effectiveness of a C-reactive protein-based protocol in reducing antibiotic treatment time in critically ill patients.

Methods

A randomized, open-label, controlled clinical trial conducted in two intensive care units of a university hospital in Brazil. Critically ill infected adult patients were randomly allocated to (i) intervention to receive antibiotics guided by daily monitoring of CRP levels and (ii) control to receive antibiotics according to the best practices for rational use of antibiotics.

Results

One hundred thirty patients were included in the CRP (n = 64) and control (n = 66) groups. In the intention-to-treat analysis, the median duration of antibiotic therapy for the index infectious episode was 7.0 (5.0–8.8) days in the CRP and 7.0 (7.0–11.3) days in the control (p = 0.011) groups. A significant difference in the treatment time between the two groups was identified in the curve of cumulative suspension of antibiotics, with less exposure in the CRP group only for the index infection episode (p = 0.007). In the per protocol analysis, involving 59 patients in each group, the median duration of antibiotic treatment was 6.0 (5.0–8.0) days for the CRP and 7.0 (7.0–10.0) days for the control (p = 0.011) groups. There was no between-group difference regarding the total days of antibiotic exposure and antibiotic-free days.

Conclusions

Daily monitoring of CRP levels may allow early interruption of antibiotic therapy in a higher proportion of patients, without an effect on total antibiotic consumption. The clinical and microbiological relevance of this finding remains to be demonstrated.

Trial registry

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02987790. Registered 09 December 2016.

Early discontinuation of empirical antibiotic treatment in neutropenic patients with acute myeloid leukaemia and high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome

INTRODUCTION

Current guidelines advocate empirical antibiotic treatment (EAT) in haematological patients with febrile neutropenia. However, the optimal duration of EAT is unknown. In 2011, we have introduced a protocol, promoting discontinuation of carbapenems as EAT after 3 days in most patients and discouraging the standard use of vancomycin. This study assesses the effect of introducing this protocol on carbapenem and vancomycin use in high-risk haematological patients and its safety.

METHODS

A retrospective before-after study was performed comparing a cohort from 2007 to 2011 (period I, before restrictive EAT use) with a cohort from 2011 to 2014 (period II, restrictive EAT use). Neutropenic episodes related to chemotherapy or stem cell transplantation (SCT) in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) or high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) were analysed. The primary outcome was the use of carbapenems and vancomycin as EAT during neutropenia, expressed as days of therapy (DOT)/100 neutropenic days and analysed with interrupted time series (ITS). Also the use of other antibiotics was analysed. Safety measurements included 30-day mortality, ICU admittance within 30 days after start of EAT and positive blood cultures with carbapenem-susceptible microorganisms.

RESULTS

Three hundred sixty-two neutropenic episodes with a median duration of 18 days were analysed, involving 201 patients. ITS analysis showed decreased carbapenem use with a step change of - 16.1 DOT/100 neutropenic days (95% CI - 26.77 to - 1.39) and an overall reduction of 21.6% (8.7 DOT/100 neutropenic days). Vancomycin use decreased with a step change of - 13.7 DOT/100 neutropenic days (95% CI - 23.75 to - 3.0) and an overall reduction of 54.7% (14.6 DOT/100 neutropenic days). The use of all antibiotics combined decreased from 155.6 to 138 DOT/100 neutropenic days, a reduction of 11.3%. No deaths directly related to early discontinuation of EAT were identified, also no notable difference in ICU-admission (9/116 in period I, 9/152 in period II) and positive blood cultures (4/116 in period I, 2/152 in period II) was detected.

CONCLUSION

The introduction of a protocol promoting restrictive use of EAT resulted in reduction of carbapenem and vancomycin use and appears to be safe in AML or high-risk MDS patients with febrile neutropenia during chemotherapy or SCT.

Non-antibiotic approaches for disease prevention and control in beef and veal production: a scoping review

Livestock producers are encouraged to reduce the use of antibiotics belonging to classes of medical importance to humans. We conducted a scoping review on non-antibiotic interventions in the form of products or management practices that could potentially reduce the need for antibiotics in beef and veal animals living under intensive production conditions. Our objectives were to systematically describe the research on this broad topic, identify specific topics that could feasibly support systematic reviews, and identify knowledge gaps. Multiple databases were searched. Two reviewers independently screened and charted the data. From the 13,598 articles screened, 722 relevant articles were charted. The number of relevant articles increased steadily from 1990. The Western European research was dominated by veal production studies whereas the North American research was dominated by beef production studies. The interventions and outcomes measured were diverse. The four most frequent interventions included non-antibiotic feed additives, vaccinations, breed type, and feed type. The four most frequent outcomes were indices of immunity, non-specific morbidity, respiratory disease, and mortality. There were seven topic areas evaluated in clinical trials that may share enough commonality to support systemic reviews. There was a dearth of studies in which interventions were compared to antibiotic comparison groups.

The potential negative impact of antibiotic pack on antibiotic stewardship in primary care in Switzerland: a modelling study

BACKGROUND

In Switzerland, oral antibiotics are dispensed in packs rather than by exact pill-count. We investigated whether available packs support compliance with recommended primary care treatment regimens for common infections in children and adults.

METHODS

Hospital-based guidelines for oral community -based treatment of acute otitis media, sinusitis, tonsillopharyngitis, community-acquired pneumonia and afebrile urinary tract infection were identified in 2017 in an iterative process by contacting hospital pharmacists and infectious diseases specialists. Furthermore, newly available national guidelines published in 2019 were reviewed. Available pack sizes for recommended solid, dispersible and liquid antibiotic formulations were retrieved from the Swiss pharmaceutical register and compared with recommended regimens to determine optimal (no leftovers) and adequate (optimal +/- one dose) matches.

RESULTS

A large variety of recommended regimens were identified. For adults, optimal and adequate packs were available for 25/70 (36%) and 8/70 (11%) regimens, respectively. Pack-regimen matching was better for WHO Watch (optimal: 15/24, 63%) than Access antibiotics (optimal: 7/39, 18%). For the four paediatric weight-examples and 42 regimens involving child-appropriate formulations, optimal and adequate packs were available for only 14/168 (8%) and 27/168 (16%), respectively. Matching was better for older children with higher body and for longer treatment courses > 7 days.

CONCLUSIONS

Fixed antibiotic packs often do not match recommended treatment regimens, especially for children, potentially resulting in longer than necessary treatments and leftover doses in the community. As part of national stewardship, a move to an exact pill-count system, including for child-appropriate solid formulations, should be considered.

Assessment of antibiotic prescriptions in pediatric care units in a regional university hospital

OBJECTIVES

The main objective was to assess the relevance of antibiotic prescriptions in the pediatric wards of a regional university hospital in France. Secondary objectives were to assess adequacy of the dose, administration frequency, administration route, treatment duration, adaptation to bacteriological results, and treatment reevaluation.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We assessed antibiotic prescriptions in pediatric settings. We included all patients under 18 years of age hospitalized in a pediatric ward who received a computerized prescription for antibiotic treatment between June 1st and June 30th, 2018; 163 clinical cases for 157 patients were analyzed. Patients hospitalized in neonatology, pediatric intensive care unit, and onco-hematology wards were excluded.

RESULTS

The rate of relevance was 71%. The rates of adequacy for the other criteria were 60% for the dose, 99% for the administration frequency, 98% for the administration route, 72% for treatment duration, 98% for treatment adaptation to microbiological results, and 100% for treatment revaluation. All criteria combined, the overall rate of adequacy was 28%.

CONCLUSIONS

Effort should be made regarding doses and treatment durations. Areas for improvement have been suggested to the wards: standardized prescription protocols, pediatric prescription guide, training of residents, setting up of the operational team in pediatric wards and a second clinical evaluation.

Assessing an intervention to improve the safety of automatic stop orders for inpatient antimicrobials

Background

Automatic stop orders (ASOs) for antimicrobials have been recommended as a component of antimicrobial stewardship programs, but may result in unintentional treatment interruption due to failure of providers to re-order an antimicrobial medication. We examined the impact of a multifaceted intervention designed to reduce the potential harms of interrupting antimicrobial treatment due to ASOs.

Methods

An intervention was implemented that included pharmacist review of expiring antimicrobials as well as provider education to encourage use of a long-term antimicrobial order set for commonly used prophylactic antimicrobials. Pharmacist interventions and antimicrobial re-ordering was recorded. Percent of missed doses of a commonly used prophylactic antimicrobial, single strength co-trimoxazole, was compared pre- and post-intervention using a chi-squared test.

Results

From November 1, 2015 to November 30, 2016, there were 401 individual pharmacist interventions for antimicrobial ASOs, resulting in 295 instances of antimicrobial re-ordering. The total percent of presumed missed single strength co-trimoxazole doses was reduced from 8.4% to 6.2% post-intervention (P<0.001).

Conclusions

This study found that a targeted intervention was associated with a reduction in unintended antimicrobial treatment interruption related to ASOs.