Impact of a Rapid Diagnostic Meningitis/Encephalitis Panel on Antimicrobial Use and Clinical Outcomes in Children

Rapid molecular diagnostic assays are increasingly used to guide effective antimicrobial therapy. Data on their effectiveness to decrease antimicrobial use in children have been limited and varied. We aimed to assess the impact of the implementation of the FilmArray Meningitis Encephalitis Panel (MEP) on antimicrobial use and outcomes in children. In an observational retrospective study performed at Atlantic Health System (NJ), we sought to evaluate the duration of intravenous antibiotic treatment (days of therapy (DoT)) for patients <21 years of age hospitalized and evaluated for presumptive meningitis or encephalitis before and after the introduction of the MEP. A secondary analysis was performed to determine if recovery of a respiratory pathogen influenced DoT. The median duration of antibiotic therapy prior to the implementation of the MEP was 5 DoT (interquartile range (IQR): 3-6) versus 3 DoT (IQR: 1-5) (p < 0.001) when MEP was performed. The impact was greatest on intravenous third-generation cephalosporin and ampicillin use. We found a reduction in the number of inpatient days associated with the MEP. In the regression analysis, a positive respiratory pathogen panel (RPP) was not a significant predictor of DoT (p = 0.08). Furthermore, we found no significant difference between DoT among patients with negative and positive RPP (p = 0.12). Our study supports the implementation of rapid diagnostics to decrease the utilization of antibiotic therapy among pediatric patients admitted with concerns related to meningitis or encephalitis.