Biomedical subjects

Sharon B Wright

Publications and source records attributed to Sharon B Wright.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Do emergency department blood cultures change practice in patients with pneumonia?

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Although it is considered standard of care to obtain blood cultures on patients hospitalized for pneumonia, several studies have questioned the utility and cost-effectiveness of this practice. The objective of this study is to determine the impact of emergency department (ED) blood cultures on antimicrobial therapy for patients with pneumonia. METHODS: We performed a prospective, observational, cohort study of consecutive adult (age > or =18 years) patients treated at an urban university ED between February 1, 2000 and February 1, 2001. Inclusion criteria were radiographic evidence of pneumonia, clinical evidence of pneumonia, and blood culture obtained. Blood cultures were classified as positive, negative, or contaminant based on previously established criteria. Additionally, data were collected on antimicrobial sensitivities, empiric antibiotic therapy, antibiotic changes, and reasons for changes. RESULTS: There were 3,926 ED visits with blood cultures obtained for any reason, of which 3,762 (96%) were available for review. Of these, 414 of 3,762 (11%) patients met pneumonia study inclusion criteria, and blood cultures identified 29 of 414 (7.0%) patients with true bacteremia. In the 414 patients, blood culture results altered therapy for 15 patients (3.6%) with suspected pneumonia, of which 11 (2.7%) patients had their coverage narrowed; only 4 (1.0%) patients had their coverage broadened because of resistance to empiric therapy. For the 11 patients with bacteremia whose therapy was not altered, culture results actually supported narrowing therapy in 8 (1.9%) cases, but this was not done. CONCLUSION: Blood cultures rarely altered therapy for patients presenting to the ED with pneumonia. More discriminatory blood culture use may potentially reduce resource utilization.

Aged↗

PubMed2005

Evaluating vancomycin use at a pediatric hospital: new approaches and insights.

OBJECTIVES: To characterize vancomycin use at a pediatric tertiary-care hospital, to discriminate between initial (< or = 72 hours) and prolonged (> 72 hours) inappropriate use, and to define patient characteristics associated with inappropriate use. DESIGN: Vancomycin courses were retrospectively reviewed using an algorithm modeled on HICPAC guidelines. Data were collected regarding patient demographics, comorbidities, other medication use, and nosocomial infections. The association between each variable and the outcome of inappropriate use was determined by longitudinal regression analysis. A multivariable model was constructed to assess risk factors for inappropriate initial and prolonged vancomycin use. SETTING: A pediatric tertiary-care medical center. PATIENTS: Children older than 1 year who received intravenous vancomycin from November 2000 to June 2001. RESULTS: Three hundred twenty-seven vancomycin courses administered to 260 patients were evaluated for appropriateness. Of initial courses, 114 (35%) were considered inappropriate. Of 143 prolonged courses, 103 (72%) were considered inappropriate. Multivariable risk factor analysis identified the following variables as significantly associated with inappropriate initial use: admission to the surgery service, having a malignancy, receipt of a stem cell transplant, and having received a prior inappropriate course of vancomycin. No variables were identified as significant risk factors for inappropriate prolonged use. CONCLUSIONS: Substantial inappropriate use of vancomycin was identified. Prolonged inappropriate use was a particular problem. This risk factor analysis suggests that interventions targeting patients admitted to certain services or receiving multiple courses of vancomycin could reduce inappropriate use.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

PubMed2005

An antibiotic order form intervention does not improve or reduce vancomycin use.

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether a paper-based antibiotic ordering system is an effective antibiotic stewardship measure. METHODS: An antibiotic order form (AOF) was introduced in July 2001 at a pediatric tertiary care hospital. Vancomycin courses prescribed before and after the AOF introduction were retrospectively reviewed based on Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee guidelines. The impact of the AOF on the appropriateness of vancomycin prescribing was evaluated in univariate and multivariable analyses that adjusted for other factors associated with appropriateness of vancomycin use. The density of vancomycin use after introduction of the AOF was also assessed. RESULTS: Compliance with the AOF was poor (<50%) during the planned study period; therefore an additional 2 months of improved compliance (70-80%) were included. Rates of inappropriate vancomycin use increased during the study periods: 35% before AOF; 39% post-AOF; and 51% during the improved compliance period. On adjusted analysis, vancomycin utilization was significantly more inappropriate after introduction of the AOF. Vancomycin doses per 1000 patient days increased after introduction of the AOF. CONCLUSIONS: Inappropriate vancomycin use and vancomycin use overall increased after the introduction of an AOF. An AOF intervention did not have its intended effect of improving and reducing vancomycin use.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

PubMed2004

Highly active antiretroviral therapy and viral response in HIV type 2 infection.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2), the second human retrovirus known to cause AIDS, is endemic to West Africa but is infrequently found outside this region. We present a case series of 10 HIV-2--infected individuals treated in the United States. Physicians applied the principles of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), normally used in treating HIV type 1, with modifications considered appropriate for treating HIV-2. CD4+ cell count, HIV-2 virus load, and clinical status were found to correlate well, providing evidence that HIV-2 virus load is useful in managing treatment of patients with HIV-2 who are receiving therapy. However, HAART regimens with predicted efficacy for treatment of HIV type 1 infection are not as efficacious for treatment of HIV-2. Controlled clinical trials of HIV-2-infected patients receiving various HAART regimens are needed to provide therapeutic guidance to the medical community.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Glycopeptides are no more effective than beta-lactam agents for prevention of surgical site infection after cardiac surgery: a meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis was performed to investigate whether a switch from beta-lactams to glycopeptides for cardiac surgery prophylaxis should be advised. Results of 7 randomized trials (5761 procedures) that compared surgical site infections (SSIs) in subjects receiving glycopeptide prophylaxis with SSIs in those who received beta -lactam prophylaxis were pooled. Neither agent proved to be superior for prevention of the primary outcome, occurrence of SSI at 30 days (risk ratio [RR], 1.14; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.91-1.42). In subanalyses, beta-lactams were superior to glycopeptides for prevention of chest SSIs (RR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.11-1.95) and approached superiority for prevention of deep-chest SSIs (RR, 1.33; 95% CI, 0.91-1.94) and SSIs caused by gram-positive bacteria (RR, 1.36; 95% CI, 0.98-1.91). Glycopeptides approached superiority to beta-lactams for prevention of leg SSIs (RR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.58-1.01) and were superior for prevention of SSIs caused by methicillin-resistant gram-positive bacteria (RR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.33-0.90). Standard prophylaxis for cardiac surgery should continue to be beta-lactams in most circumstances.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

PubMed2004

The magnitude of the association between fluoroquinolone use and quinolone-resistant Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae may be lower than previously reported.

Case-control analyses of resistant versus susceptible isolates have implicated fluoroquinolone exposure as a strong risk factor for fluoroquinolone-resistant isolates of Enterobacteriaceae. We suspect that such methodology may overestimate this association. A total of 84 cases with fluoroquinolone-resistant isolates and 578 cases with fluoroquinolone-susceptible isolates of Escherichia coli or Klebsiella pneumoniae were compared with 608 hospitalized controls in parallel multivariable analyses. For comparison of previous estimates, the results of 10 published case-control studies of risk for fluoroquinolone resistance in isolates of Enterobacteriaceae were pooled by using a random-effects model. Exposure to fluoroquinolones was significantly positively associated with fluoroquinolone resistance (odds ratio [OR], 3.17) and negatively associated with fluoroquinolone susceptibility (OR, 0.18). Multivariable analyses yielded similar estimates (ORs, 2.04 and 0.10, respectively). As data on antibiotic exposure were limited to inpatient prescriptions, misclassification of fluoroquinolone exposure in persons who received fluoroquinolones as outpatients may have led to an underestimation of the true effect size. Pooling the results of previously published studies in which a direct comparison of fluoroquinolone-resistant and fluoroquinolone-susceptible cases was used resulted in a markedly higher effect estimate (OR, 18.7). Had we directly compared resistant and susceptible cases, our univariate OR for the association between fluoroquinolone use and the isolation of resistant Enterobacteriaceae would have been 19.3, and the multivariate OR would have been 16.5. Fluoroquinolone use is significantly associated with the isolation of fluoroquinolone-resistant Enterobacteriaceae; however, previous studies likely exaggerated the magnitude of this association.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

Administrative databases provide inaccurate data for surveillance of long-term central venous catheter-associated infections.

BACKGROUND: Efficient methods are needed to monitor infections associated with long-term central venous catheters (CVCs) in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Automated medical records and claims data have been used for surveillance of these infections without evaluation of their accuracy or validity. OBJECTIVE: To determine the feasibility of using electronic records to identify CVC placement and design a system for identifying CVC-associated infections. DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective cohort study at an HMO and two teaching hospitals in Boston, one adult (hospital A) and one pediatric (hospital B), between January 1991 and December 1997. Tunneled catheters, totally implanted catheters, and hemodialysis catheters were examined. Claims databases of both the HMO and the hospitals were searched for 10 CPT codes, 2 ICD-9 codes, and internal charge codes indicating CVC insertion. Lists were compared with each other and with medical records for correlation and accuracy. PATIENTS: All members of the HMO who had a CVC inserted at one of the two hospitals during the study period. RESULTS: There was wide variation in the CVC insertions identified in each database. Although ICD-9 codes at each hospital and CPT/ICD-9 combinations at the HMO found similar total numbers of CVCs, there was little overlap between the individuals identified (62% for hospital A with HMO and 4% for hospital B). CONCLUSION: Claims data from different sources do not identify the same CVC insertion procedures. Current administrative databases are not ready to be used for electronic surveillance of CVC-associated complications without extensive modification and validation.

Boston↗

PubMed2003

Clinical implications of varying degrees of vancomycin susceptibility in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia.

We conducted a retrospective study of the clinical aspects of bacteremia caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with heterogeneously reduced susceptibility to vancomycin. Bloodstream MRSA isolates were screened for reduced susceptibility by using brain-heart infusion agar, including 4 mg/L vancomycin with and without 4% NaCl. Patients whose isolates exhibited growth (case-patients) were compared with those whose isolates did not (controls) for demographics, coexisting chronic conditions, hospital events, antibiotic exposures, and outcomes. Sixty-one (41%) of 149 isolates exhibited growth. Subclones from 46 (75%) of these had a higher MIC of vancomycin than did their parent isolates. No isolates met criteria for vancomycin heteroresistance. No differences in potential predictors or in outcomes were found between case-patients and controls. These data show that patients with vancomycin-susceptible MRSA bacteremia have similar baseline clinical features and outcomes whether or not their bacterial isolates exhibit growth on screening media containing vancomycin.

Bacteremia↗