ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE AND MORTALITY

Area of Science:

• Infectious Diseases
• Critical Care Medicine
• Microbiology

Background:

• Antibiotic resistance is a significant global health concern.
• Multidrug-resistant (MDR) infections pose a challenge in healthcare settings.
• The direct link between MDR and patient mortality requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between multidrug resistance (MDR) and mortality in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients.
• To determine if antibiotic resistance is the primary driver of mortality in MDR infections.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective cohort study was conducted from 2016 to 2019 in an ICU.
• Antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) results of 381 bacterial cultures were analyzed.
• Patient mortality outcomes were correlated with MDR pathogen presence and clinical factors.

Main Results:

• 51% of bacterial cultures analyzed showed multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens.
• No significant association was found between MDR and patient mortality (p=0.387).
• Medical cases (OR 1.76) and high APACHE scores (OR 1.32) were strongly associated with mortality.

Conclusions:

• Antibiotic resistance alone is not the primary cause of mortality in patients with MDR infections.
• Virulence of the pathogen, rather than resistance, is the critical determinant of pathogenicity and mortality.
• Clinical factors like comorbidities and severity scores are significant predictors of outcomes in ICU patients.