Seven Versus 14 Days of Antibiotic Therapy for Uncomplicated Gram-negative Bacteremia: A Noninferiority Randomized Controlled Trial

Dafna Yahav, Erica Franceschini, Fidi Koppel, Adi Turjeman, Tanya Babich, Roni Bitterman, Ami Neuberger, Nesrin Ghanem-Zoubi, Antonella Santoro, Noa Eliakim-Raz, Barak Pertzov, Tali Steinmetz, Anat Stern, Yaakov Dickstein, Elias Maroun, Hiba Zayyad, Jihad Bishara, Danny Alon, Yonatan Edel, Elad GoldbergClaudia Venturelli, Cristina Mussini, Leonard Leibovici, Mical Paul

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

216 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Gram-negative bacteremia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. Data to guide the duration of antibiotic therapy are limited. Methods: This was a randomized, multicenter, open-label, noninferiority trial. Inpatients with gram-negative bacteremia, who were afebrile and hemodynamically stable for at least 48 hours, were randomized to receive 7 days (intervention) or 14 days (control) of covering antibiotic therapy. Patients with uncontrolled focus of infection were excluded. The primary outcome at 90 days was a composite of all-cause mortality; relapse, suppurative, or distant complications; and readmission or extended hospitalization (>14 days). The noninferiority margin was set at 10%. Results: We included 604 patients (306 intervention, 298 control) between January 2013 and August 2017 in 3 centers in Israel and Italy. The source of the infection was urinary in 411 of 604 patients (68%); causative pathogens were mainly Enterobacteriaceae (543/604 [90%]). A 7-day difference in the median duration of covering antibiotics was achieved. The primary outcome occurred in 140 of 306 patients (45.8%) in the 7-day group vs 144 of 298 (48.3%) in the 14-day group (risk difference,-2.6% [95% confidence interval,-10.5% to 5.3%]). No significant differences were observed in all other outcomes and adverse events, except for a shorter time to return to baseline functional status in the short-course therapy arm. Conclusions: In patients hospitalized with gram-negative bacteremia achieving clinical stability before day 7, an antibiotic course of 7 days was noninferior to 14 days. Reducing antibiotic treatment for uncomplicated gram-negative bacteremia to 7 days is an important antibiotic stewardship intervention. Clinical Trials Registration: NCT01737320.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1091-1098
Number of pages8
JournalClinical Infectious Diseases
Volume69
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - 13 Sep 2019
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s).

Keywords

  • antibiotics
  • bacteremia
  • duration
  • gram-negative

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