Comparison of mortality of patients with Acinetobacter baumannii bacteraemia receiving appropriate and inappropriate empirical therapy.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the effect of inappropriate empirical antimicrobial treatment on the mortality of patients with Acinetobacter baumannii bacteraemia.

METHODS

Retrospective cohort study of patients with A. baumannii bacteraemia hospitalized at the Henry Dunant hospital from January 2002 to December 2004.

RESULTS

Among 40 patients with A. baumannii bacteraemia, 22 (55%) and 18 (45%) received inappropriate and appropriate antibiotic therapy, respectively, during the 3 day period after obtaining the blood culture(s) from which the pathogen was isolated. Failure to cure the infection was more common in the first group [16/22 patients (72.7%) versus 5/18 (27.8%), P = 0.005]. Although without statistical significance, probably due to the small number of studied patients, considerably increased mortality was noted in the first group compared with the second group [13/22 patients (59.1%) versus 6/18 (33.3%), P = 0.10].

CONCLUSIONS

A. baumannii bacteraemia was associated with worse outcome regarding the cure of infection in patients who received inappropriate empirical antimicrobial treatment compared with those who received appropriate treatment.