Antibiogram of Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria Based on Sepsis Onset Location in Korea: A Multicenter Cohort Study

Administration of adequate antibiotics is crucial for better outcomes in sepsis. Because no uniform tool can accurately assess the risk of multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens, a local antibiogram is necessary. We aimed to describe the antibiogram of MDR bacteria based on locations of sepsis onset in South Korea.

We performed a prospective observational study of adult patients diagnosed with sepsis according to Sepsis-3 from 19 institutions (13 tertiary referral and 6 university-affiliated general hospitals) in South Korea. Patients were divided into four groups based on the respective location of sepsis onset: community, nursing home, long-term-care hospital, and hospital. Along with the antibiogram, risk factors of MDR bacteria and drug-bug match of empirical antibiotics were analyzed.

MDR bacteria were detected in 1,596 (22.7%) of 7,024 patients with gram-negative predominance. MDR gram-negative bacteria were more commonly detected in long-term-care hospital- (30.4%) and nursing home-acquired (26.3%) sepsis, whereas MDR gram-positive bacteria were more prevalent in hospital-acquired (10.9%) sepsis. Such findings were consistent regardless of the location and tier of hospitals throughout South Korea. Patients with long-term-care hospital-acquired sepsis had the highest risk of MDR pathogen, which was even higher than those with hospital-acquired sepsis (adjusted odds ratio, 1.42; 95% confidence interval, 1.15-1.75) after adjustment of risk factors. The drug-bug match was lowest in patients with long-term-care hospital-acquired sepsis (66.8%).

Gram-negative MDR bacteria were more common in nursing home- and long-term-care hospital-acquired sepsis, whereas gram-positive MDR bacteria were more common in hospital-acquired settings in South Korea. Patients with long-term-care hospital-acquired sepsis had the highest the risk of MDR bacteria but lowest drug-bug match of initial antibiotics. We suggest that initial antibiotics be carefully selected according to the onset location in each patient.