Sivelestat sodium and mortality in pneumonia patients requiring mechanical ventilation: propensity score analysis of a Japanese nationwide database

Changing clinical practice and prognosis for severe respiratory failure over time: A nationwide inpatient database study

BACKGROUND

Severe respiratory failure requires numerous interventions and its clinical implementation changes over time. We aimed to clarify the clinical practice and prognosis of severe respiratory failure and its changes over time.

METHODS

In a nationwide Japanese administrative database from 2016 to 2019, we identified nonoperative patients with severe respiratory failure without congestive heart failure as the main diagnosis who received mechanical ventilation (MV) for more than four days. We examined trends in patient characteristics, adjunctive interventions, and prognosis.

RESULTS

Among 66,905 patients included in this study, patients received antibiotics (90%), high-dose corticosteroids (14%), low-dose corticosteroids (18%), and 51% were admitted to the critical care unit. Hospital mortality was 35%. Median mechanical ventilation lasted 10 days. Tracheostomy occurred in 23% of cases. Median critical care and hospital stays were 10 and 25 days, respectively. Among survivors, 23% had mechanical ventilation dependency at hospital discharge. Large relative changes in adjunctive therapies included fentanyl (30%-38%), rocuronium (4.4%-6.7%), vasopressin (3.8%-6.0%), early rehabilitation (27%-38%), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (0.7%-1.2%), dopamine (15%-10%), and sivelestat (8.6%-3.5%). No notable changes were seen in mechanical ventilation duration, tracheostomy, critical care unit stay, hospital stay, or ventilator dependency at discharge, except for a slight reduction in hospital mortality (36%-34%).

CONCLUSIONS

Several adjunctive therapies for severe respiratory failure changed from 2016 to 2019, with an increase in evidence-based practices and a slight decrease in hospital mortality.

Antibiotic resistance ofKlebsiella pneumoniae through β-arrestin recruitment-induced β-lactamase signaling pathway

Overuse and misuse of antibiotics leads to rapid evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes. Klebsiella pneumoniae has become the most common pathogenic bacterium accountable for nosocomial infections due to its high virulence factor and general occurrence of resistance to most antibiotics. The β-lactamase signaling pathway has been suggested to be involved in antibiotic resistance against β-lactams in Klebsiella pneumoniae. In the present study, the molecular mechanism of the antibiotic resistance of Klebsiella pneumoniae was investigated and the results indicated involvement of the β-arrestin recruitment-induced β-lactamase signaling pathway. Antimicrobial susceptibility of Klebsiella pneumoniae was assessed using automated systems and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) and β-arrestin expression levels in Klebsiella pneumoniae were analyzed by reverse-transcription quantitative PCR. β-lactam resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae was determined using β-lactam agar screening plates. The results demonstrated that β-arrestin recruitment was increased in Klebsiella pneumoniae with antibiotic resistance (AR-K.P.) compared with that in the native Klebsiella pneumoniae strain (NB-K.P.). Increased production of ESBL was observed in AR-K.P. after treatment with the β-lactam penicillin. Of note, inhibition of β-arrestin recruitment significantly suppressed ESBL expression in AR-K.P. and in addition, genes encoding β-arrestin and ESBL were upregulated in Klebsiella pneumoniae. Restoration of endogenous β-arrestin markedly increased antibiotic resistance of Klebsiella pneumoniae to β-lactam. Knockdown of endogenous β-arrestin downregulated antibiotic resistance genes and promoted the inhibitory effects of β-lactam antibiotic treatment on Klebsiella pneumoniae growth. In conclusion, the present study identified that β-arrestin recruitment was associated with growth and resistance to β-lactams, which suggested that β-arrestin regulating ESBL expression may be a potential target for addressing antibiotic resistance to β-lactams in Klebsiella pneumoniae.