Prior antibiotic use, longer hospital stays increase risk of CRE infections
A study of patients at a large tertiary-care medical center found that antibiotic exposure and length of stay were associated with an increased risk of developing a carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) infection, researchers reported today in Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology.
To identify risk factors for CRE infection, Ohio State researchers conducted a retrospective case-case-control study, comparing patients who had been diagnosed as having a CRE infection at the hospital from 2011 through 2016 with patients diagnosed as having carbapenem-susceptible Enterobacterales (CSE) infections and a random selection of control patients. Data collected from patient medical records included age at admission, sex, length of hospital stay, and prescription for antibiotics in the 90 days prior to admission.
A total of 81 unique CRE patients were identified during the study period, and they were compared with 87 CSE patients and 89 control patients. In the unadjusted analysis, CRE patients were more than 18 times more likely to have been prescribed any antibiotic in the previous 90 days than CSE patients (odds ratio [OR], 18.35; 95% confidence interval [CI], 5.37 to 62.8) and 51 times more likely than control patients (OR, 51.1; 95% CI, 14.9 to 176.0).
In multivariable models, prescription of a beta-lactam antibiotic was associated with a fivefold increase in odds for CRE infection (OR, 5.43; 95% CI, 1.95 to 15.1) and a more than twofold increase in odds for CSE infection (OR, 2.65; 95% CI, 1.18 to 5.95). Each additional day of hospital admission was associated with an increased odds of infection of about 13% for CRE patients (OR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.08 to 1.19) and CSE patients (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.08 to 1.18).
"Future studies of this type may consider conducting more thorough reviews of medical records to determine specific residence type prior to admission and whether patients are coming from common locations that have seen patients previously diagnosed with either CRE or CSE," the study authors wrote. "Long-term and other group care facilities may have increased incidence of infection in general and of resistant organisms specifically and determining where patients are being admitted from can be important factors in determining how to care for these patients upon admission to a medical facility."
Jul 14 Antimicrob Stewardship Healthc Epidemiol study
Stewardship interventions linked to reduce antibiotics in urgent care
A multifaceted quality-improvement program implemented at urgent care clinics in an integrated academic health system was associated with reductions in inappropriate and overall antibiotic prescribing, without negatively affecting patient satisfaction, researchers reported yesterday in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.
The program implemented in 2019 at Northwestern Medicine was developed by an ambulatory antibiotic stewardship committee and focused on improving antibiotic prescribing for "stewardship target visits," which included non–antibiotic-appropriate conditions like upper respiratory tract infections. The program also targeted "diagnosis shifting visits," in which clinicians add antibiotic-appropriate diagnoses to evade stewardship measures, overall antibiotic prescribing, and patient satisfaction for acute respiratory infections (ARI) visits. Interventions included comparative feedback and clinician and patient education.
From 2019 through 2021, 576,609 patients made 1,358,816 visits to 17 urgent care clinics, including 105,781 visits for which stewardship measures were applied and 149,691 visits for which diagnosis shifting measures were applied.
The antibiotic prescribing rate decreased for stewardship-measure visits from 34% in 2019 to 12% in 2021 (absolute change, −22 percentage points; 95% CI, −23 to −22), for diagnosis-shifting visits from 63% to 35% (−28 percentage points; 95% CI, −28 to −27). The overall antibiotic prescribing rate declined from 30% to 10% (−20 percentage points; 95% CI, −20 to −20). The patient satisfaction rate increased from 83% in 2019 to 89% in 2020 and 2021. There was no significant association between antibiotic prescribing rates of individual clinicians and ARI visit patient satisfaction.
"In conclusion, it is possible to decrease antibiotic prescribing for presumed viral illnesses in the urgent-care setting and maintain patient satisfaction," the study authors wrote. "Key elements of success may have included an ambulatory antimicrobial stewardship committee, physician champions, having data for analysis and reporting, and educational resources for patients and prescribers."
They added that reducing antibiotic prescribing for non–antibiotic-appropriate diagnoses has the potential to start a "virtuous cycle" for patients, as non-receipt of antibiotics may be associated with less antibiotic seeking in the future.
Jul 13 Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol abstract