Shorter Antibiotic Course May Be Adequate For Patients With Gram-Negative Bloodstream Infections, Review Finds

Infectious Disease Advisor (6/9, Basilio) reports a systemic review and meta-analysis found that “a 7-day course of antibiotic therapy may be comparable to a 14-day course for reducing the risk of mortality in patients with uncomplicated gram-negative bloodstream infections (GN-BSIs).” A total of four trials were included in the meta-analysis, with 3,729 patients in the intention-to-treat (ITT) population and 3,126 patients in the per protocol (PP) population. Researchers observed that “in the ITT population, the rate of 90-day all-cause mortality was similar between the groups (12.8% and 13.7%), with a high probability of noninferiority (97.8%).” A further analysis of patients in the PP population “who received 7 vs 14 days of antibiotics indicated similar findings for both the between-group risk of 90-day mortality and the probability of noninferiority (95.1%).” The review was published in JAMA Network Open.