What is it about?
The study defines the survival benefit of appropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy for gram-negative bloodstream infections based on prognosis at initial presentation.
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Why is it important?
Previous studies of bloodstream infections have shown inconsistent results regarding the association between inappropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy and mortality. Studies that included patients with relatively high mortality demonstrated increased mortality with inappropriate empirical therapy, whereas those mostly including patients with low acute severity of illness and low inoculum infections didn't.
Perspectives
The study used a unique approach to stratify patients with bloodstream infections based on prognosis at initial presentation by utilizing the bloodstream infection mortality risk score. This prognostic score is based on acute severity of illness, source of infection and major comorbidities. Inappropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy was associated with increased mortality in patients with guarded and poor prognosis, but not in those with good prognosis at initial presentation.
Prof. Majdi Al-Hasan
University of South Carolina School of Medicine
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Stratification of the Impact of Inappropriate Empirical Antimicrobial Therapy for Gram-Negative Bloodstream Infections by Predicted Prognosis, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, October 2014, ASM Journals,
DOI: 10.1128/aac.03935-14.
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