Effect of Obesity on Clinical Failure of Patients Treated With ß-Lactams.

BACKGROUND: Altered pharmacokinetics in obese patients raise concerns over worse clinical outcomes. This study assessed whether obese patients receiving a ß-lactam have worse clinical outcomes compared to nonobese patients and to identify if therapeutic drug monitoring may be beneficial. METHODS: This multicenter, retrospective cohort included hospitalized adults admitted from July 2015 to July 2017 treated with a ß-lactam as definitive monotherapy against a gram-negative bacilli for ≥72 hours. Patients were excluded if there was lack of source control or if polymicrobial infections required >1 antibiotic for definitive therapy. Patients were classified based on body mass index (BMI): nonobese (BMI ≤29.9 kg/m2) and obese (BMI ≥30.0 kg/m2). The primary outcome was clinical treatment failure, and secondary outcomes were hospital length of stay, inpatient all-cause mortality, and 30-day all-cause readmission. RESULTS: There were 257 (43.6%) obese patients and 332 (56.4%) nonobese patients included. The most common infections were urinary (50.9%) and respiratory (31.4%). Definitive treatment was driven by third-generation cephalosporins (46.9%) and cefepime (44.7%). Treatment failure occurred in 131 (51%) obese patients and 109 (32.8%) nonobese patients (P < .001). Obesity and respiratory source were independently associated with increased likelihood of treatment failure. Obese patients were hospitalized longer than nonobese patients (P = .002), but no differences were found for all-cause mortality (P = .117) or infection-related readmission (0 = 0.112). CONCLUSIONS: Obese patients treated with ß-lactams have higher rates of treatment failure and longer hospitalization periods than nonobese patients. Future studies are needed to assess the impact of therapeutic drug monitoring and specific dosing recommendations for targeted infection types.

Impact of the Joint Commission Pneumonia Core Measure on Antibiotic Use and Selection for Community-Acquired Pneumonia in the Emergency Room.

Background: Prior to 2012, The Joint Commission (TJC) pneumonia core measure (PN-5) required antibiotic administration for suspected community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) within 6 hours of arrival to the emergency room (ER). In 2012, TJC issued PN-6 requiring antibiotic administration within 24 hours of presentation. Though PN-6 was anticipated to reduce overuse and inappropriate antibiotic use and improve appropriate antibiotic selection, the impact of PN-5 and PN-6 on optimizing care for CAP in the ER remains unknown. Objective: To investigate the impact of TJC pneumonia core measures on antibiotic use in the ER for suspected CAP. Methods: In this single-center study, medical records of patients 18 years old and older diagnosed with CAP in the ER during 2011 (PN-5) and 2012 (PN-6) and admitted for 1 day or longer were reviewed. Exclusion criteria included criteria for health care-associated pneumonia. Comparisons between groups were performed using descriptive statistics and contingency table analysis with chi-square or Fisher exact tests for categorical variables and t tests for continuous variables. Statistical analyses were performed using Microsoft Excel 2010 and SAS version 9.4. Results: Antibiotic use was comparable between PN-5 and PN-6. Approximately half of patients in each group received an appropriate empiric CAP regimen (52% vs 54%; P = .807). Among inappropriate regimens, the most common reason was use of a beta-lactam alone (69% vs 83%; P = .26). More patients had an ultimate diagnosis of CAP with PN-6 (78% vs 86%; P = .3). Conclusion: Changes in pneumonia core measure requirements did not have a significant impact on appropriate antibiotic use in the ER.