Use of Meropenem in a Tertiary Pediatric Hospital in Costa Rica and Its Role in the Era of Antimicrobial Stewardship

Copyright © 2021, Chacón-González et al..

Background Understanding antibiotic profiles and their resistance patterns can improve hospital quality care and optimize clinical outcomes. This paper characterizes the use of meropenem in the National Children's Hospital of Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social (CCSS) in Costa Rica, and its role in antibiotic stewardship. Methods This is a retrospective observational study from hospitalized patients under 13 years of age that received meropenem as part of their treatment. Patients were identified through medical and pharmacy records. Data was summarized using frequencies and percentages for categorical variables, means and standard deviations for normally distributed continuous variables, and medians with interquartile ranges (IQR) for non-normally distributed continuous variables. Results A total of 181 of the 309 selected patients met inclusion criteria. Median age was 21 months (IQR: 4.0-79.0). Mean length of stay was 31 days (16.0-58.0). The most frequent diagnosis was septic shock (29%). 87% of patients received at least one antibiotic prior to receiving meropenem; 71% of patients received a second antibiotic simultaneously with meropenem. In 113 (62%) cases, meropenem was prescribed as empirical therapy. The most frequent isolate was extended-spectrum ß-lactamase Escherichia coli (24%). 74% of patients who received meropenem as targeted therapy had a favorable outcome. Conclusions Meropenem can be used as monotherapy for complicated, multi-drug resistant, gram negative, bacterial infections, due to its susceptibility profile, convenient dosing schedule, and minimum adverse effects. However, it should be restricted to cases where no other drug is available in order to safeguard its value.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:13

Enthalten in:

Cureus - 13(2021), 6 vom: 15. Juni, Seite e15809

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Chacón-González, Constanza [VerfasserIn]
Rivera-Salgado, Daniel [VerfasserIn]
Brenes-Chacón, Helena [VerfasserIn]
Naranjo-Zuñiga, Gabriela [VerfasserIn]
Ávila-Aguero, María L [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Antibiotic resistance
Antimicrobial stewardship
Journal Article
Meropenem
Pediatrics
Therapeutics

Anmerkungen:

Date Revised 27.07.2021

published: Electronic-eCollection

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.7759/cureus.15809

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM328516996