This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Certain antibiotics increased CDI risk in children with ALL
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Decreasing the exposure to antipseudomonal beta-lactam agents may reduce the risk for Clostridium difficile infection among children newly diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, according to results of a study in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.
Brian T. Fisher, DO, MSCE, of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and colleagues assessed 8,268 children with a median age of 5.51 years who were recently diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Study participants were followed until their first CDI event or 180 days after ALL diagnosis.
Within 180 days after initial diagnosis, 326 patients had at least one event that received an ICD-9 code for CDI. Of those, 3.2% (n=268) received recommended testing for C. difficile. The median time frame between initial ALL diagnosis and onset of CDI was 60 days. Researchers found recent exposure to antipseudomonal beta-lactam agents increased study participants’ risk for CDI.
“Our study shows that among antipseudomonal beta-lactams commonly used for febrile neutropenia, cefepime and ceftazidime are independently associated with CDI in children with ALL,” Fisher and colleagues wrote. “Furthermore, our results indicate that even one additional day of exposure to antipseudomonal beta-lactams in the last 30 days significantly increases the risk for CDI. These data suggest that reducing a patient’s total exposure to antipseudomonal beta-lactams even by one day can reduce the risk of CDI.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts