Cefazolin for Methicillin-Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia

Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia is associated with high mortality. Whether cefazolin or an antistaphylococcal penicillin should be preferred for the treatment of methicillin-susceptible S. aureus bacteremia is unclear.

In an ongoing international Bayesian adaptive platform trial, we conducted an open-label, randomized comparison of cefazolin with an antistaphylococcal penicillin (flucloxacillin or cloxacillin) in adult patients with penicillin-resistant, methicillin-susceptible S. aureus bacteremia. The primary outcome, which was evaluated with a hierarchical Bayesian logistic-regression model, was death from any cause within 90 days after enrollment in the platform. We assessed the posterior probability of the noninferiority of cefazolin to flucloxacillin or cloxacillin (with the criterion for noninferiority prespecified as an adjusted odds ratio of <1.2, which approximates an absolute difference in mortality of <2.5 percentage points if mortality in the antistaphylococcal-penicillin group is 15%), as well as the posterior probability of superiority (with the criterion of an adjusted odds ratio of <1.0). Secondary safety outcomes included the development of acute kidney injury within 14 days.

This domain of the ongoing trial was conducted between February 17, 2022, and August 7, 2024, by which time the criterion for noninferiority had been met. Mortality at 90 days among adults who could be evaluated was 15.0% (97 deaths among 645 patients) in the cefazolin group and 17.0% (109 deaths among 642 patients) in the antistaphylococcal-penicillin group (adjusted odds ratio, 0.81; 95% credible interval, 0.59 to 1.12; probability of noninferiority, 99.2%; probability of superiority, 89.8%). Acute kidney injury occurred in 92 of 660 patients (13.9%) in the cefazolin group, as compared with 127 of 648 (19.6%) in the antistaphylococcal-penicillin group (adjusted odds ratio, 0.67; 95% credible interval, 0.50 to 0.89; probability of superiority, 99.7%).

In patients with methicillin-susceptible S. aureus bacteremia, cefazolin was noninferior to flucloxacillin or cloxacillin with respect to 90-day mortality and was associated with a lower incidence of acute kidney injury. (Funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and others; SNAP ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT05137119.).