Variability in Durations of Therapy for Gram-Negative Bloodstream Infections and Factors Associated With Prolonged...

Area of Science:

• Infectious Diseases
• Clinical Pharmacy
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Limited data exist on the actual treatment durations for gram-negative bloodstream infections in real-world clinical settings.
• Understanding current treatment practices is crucial for optimizing antimicrobial stewardship and patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze and describe the real-world treatment durations for gram-negative bloodstream infections across multiple US hospitals.
• To identify patterns and variability in therapy length for these common infections.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 4240 gram-negative bloodstream infection episodes.
• Data collected from 24 diverse US hospitals during the year 2019.
• Descriptive statistics used to determine median treatment duration and interquartile range.

Main Results:

• The median duration of antibiotic therapy was 12 days (interquartile range: 9-15 days).
• A majority of patients (59%) received treatment exceeding 10 days.
• Significant variability in treatment durations was observed among the participating hospitals.

Conclusions:

• Current clinical practice for gram-negative bloodstream infections involves prolonged treatment durations.
• Substantial inter-hospital variation in therapy length highlights potential areas for guideline development and standardization.
• Further research is warranted to correlate treatment duration with clinical outcomes and resistance patterns.