Intensive care antibiotic consumption and resistance patterns: a cross-correlation analysis.

Area of Science:

• Infectious Diseases
• Clinical Microbiology
• Hospital Epidemiology

Background:

• Rising global infections from multidrug-resistant pathogens necessitate local surveillance.
• Investigated the link between bacterial resistance and antibiotic use in a Romanian ICU.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the relationship between local bacterial resistance patterns and antibiotic consumption.
• To understand factors influencing antimicrobial resistance in an intensive care setting.

Main Methods:

• Prospective study (2012-2013) in a Romanian university hospital ICU.
• Collected monthly data on antibiotic consumption and resistance phenotypes, aggregated quarterly.
• Utilized cross-correlation and regression models (SPSS, R) to analyze relationships.

Main Results:

• Significant increases in resistant *P. aeruginosa* strains correlated with higher consumption of specific antibiotics (piperacillin/tazobactam, meropenem).
• Strong correlations found between resistant strains and antibiotic classes (e.g., carbapenem-resistant *P. aeruginosa* vs. carbapenems).
• Regression models showed resistance in a quarter depends on prior quarter's consumption and incidence of resistant strains.

Conclusions:

• Antibiotic resistance is influenced by current and past antibiotic consumption.
• The incidence of resistant strains in the preceding quarter is a key factor in current resistance levels.
• Findings highlight the importance of considering historical data for effective antimicrobial stewardship.