Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2010
Abstract
Background Published guidelines for the treatment of healthcare-associated pneumonia (HCAP) recommend initial broad-spectrum antibiotics with appropriate de-escalation based on culture results. Guideline recommendations are based on data from intubated patients, in whom cultures are easily obtained. The approach to antibiotic de-escalation for culture-negative patients has not been addressed. Consequently, there are no published reports that describe the current standard of practice. Patients and methods All patients admitted to a university hospital with a diagnosis of HCAP, as defined by use of a pneumonia orderset, were identified retrospectively over a 2-year period. Antibiotics prescribed on admission, during hospital stay, and on discharge were recorded. De-escalation was defined as a change in the initial antibiotic therapy from broad- to narrow-spectrum coverage within 14 days of the initial prescription. The Pneumonia Severity Index was used for risk-adjustment. Results A total of 102 patients were included in the analysis; of these, 72% (n = 73) were culture-negative. There were more males in the culture-negative than culture-positive group; otherwise, baseline characteristics were similar. Antibiotic therapy was de-escalated in 75% of the culture-negative group and 77% of the culturepositive group (p = 1.00). Culture-negative patients were de-escalated approximately 1 day earlier than culturepositive patients (3.93 vs. 5.04 days, p = 0.03). Culturenegative patients who were de-escalated had a shorter length of hospitalization, lower hospital costs, and lower mortality rates. In 70% of the culture-negative patients, a respiratory fluoroquinolone was chosen for de-escalation. Conclusion In this single-center study, most of the patients with culture-negative HCAP were safely de-escalated to a respiratory fluoroquinolone.
Recommended Citation
Schleuter M, James C, Dominguez A, Tsu L, and G Seymann. Practice Patterns for Antibiotic de-escalation in Culture-Negative Healthcare-Associated Pneumonia. Infection 2010;38:357-362
doi: 10.1007/s15010-010-0042-z
Copyright
Springer
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License
Comments
This article was originally published in Infection, volume 38, in 2010. DOI: 10.1007/s15010-010-0042-z