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VIDEO: Early antibiotic therapy, risk stratification improves patient outcomes
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NEW ORLEANS — Thomas P. Lodise, PharmD, PhD, professor at the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, discusses two studies that highlight the importance of early antibiotic therapy and identifying risk factors for antibiotic-resistant infections.
The first study assessed the impact of early therapy vs. delayed therapy in a large cohort of patients with gram-negative infections. Lodise and colleagues found that administering an active drug within 1 or 2 days of infection onset reduced therapy, the duration of hospital stay, and costs. However, only half of patients in the analysis received early treatment.
For the second study, the researchers identified risk factors for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae acquisition. They determined that patients on dialysis treatment, those being transferred to other institutions and those who had an infection within the past 3 months were at an increased risk for CRE. Among these patients, those with prior antibiotic use and in an institution with a CRE prevalence rate greater than 2% were at the highest risk for CRE acquisition.
“It’s very important to get early appropriate drugs in our patients and thinking about patients at greatest risk for antibiotic-resistant infections,” Lodise says. “We can improve patient outcomes by better risk stratifying or early empiric antibiotic treatment decisions.”
Disclosure Lodise is a consultant and serves on the speaker's bureau for Allergan, Merck and The Medicines Company.