Safety and Effectiveness of High-Dose Cefazolin in Patients With High Body Weight: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Cefazolin is a commonly used antibiotic for the treatment of mild to severe infections. Despite the use of higher dose of cefazolin (3 g/dose) for surgical prophylaxis in patients with obesity, there is currently a paucity of data identifying the optimal dose to treat infections in this specific patient population.

This was a multicenter, retrospective cohort study of patients who received cefazolin at weight-based (up to 9 g/day) or standard doses (up to 6 g/day) for the treatment of bacteremia or skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI). Study groups were stratified by body weight and cefazolin dose received. Primary outcome was the composite of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) and secondary outcome was treatment failure rate.

A total of 208 patients were included for study analysis. Fifty-nine patients had body weight >120 kg. Of these, 33 received high-dose cefazolin while 26 received standard doses. The remaining 149 patients had body weight of ≤120 kg and received standard doses. The occurrence of TEAEs did not differ across the 3 groups. The study also did not find any difference between the rate of treatment failure between groups.

High-dose cefazolin (9 g/day) for the treatment of bacteremia or SSTIs in patients with high body weight was safe and well tolerated. Larger studies are needed to further explore the benefit of high-dose cefazolin in improving clinical outcomes.