TABLE 4.
Trends in empirical antimicrobial therapy in adults with community-onset bacteremia
| Antibiotic | No. (%) of patients |
P valuea | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Young adults (18–44 yr; n = 216) |
Adults (45–64 yr; n = 762) |
Elderly (65–84 yr; n = 1,167) |
Oldest old (≥85 yr; n = 362) |
||
| Cephalosporins (n = 1,678) | 135 (62.5) | 528 (69.3) | 794 (68.0) | 221 (61.0) | 0.816 |
| First generation (n = 256) | 31 (14.4) | 85 (11.2) | 101 (8.7) | 39 (10.8) | 0.271 |
| Second generation (n = 316) | 24 (11.1) | 93 (12.2) | 161 (13.8) | 38 (10.5) | 0.982 |
| Third generation (n = 880) | 66 (30.6) | 272 (35.7) | 424 (36.3) | 118 (32.6) | 0.682 |
| Fourth generation (n = 226) | 14 (6.5) | 78 (10.2) | 108 (9.3) | 26 (7.2) | 0.911 |
| Aminopenicillins/BLIs (n = 209) | 10 (4.6) | 61 (8.0) | 102 (8.7) | 36 (9.9) | 0.057 |
| Fluoroquinolones (n = 182) | 17 (7.9) | 56 (7.3) | 83 (7.1) | 26 (7.2) | 0.174 |
| Glycopeptides (n = 144) | 24 (11.1) | 47 (6.2) | 59 (5.1) | 14 (3.9) | 0.072 |
| Ureidopenicillins/BLIs (n = 103) | 7 (3.2) | 17 (2.2) | 55 (4.7) | 24 (6.6) | 0.144 |
| Carbapenems (n = 77) | 8 (3.7) | 17 (2.2) | 37 (3.2) | 15 (4.1) | 0.654 |
| Ureidopenicillins (n = 49) | 3 (1.4) | 12 (1.6) | 17 (1.5) | 17 (4.7) | 0.210 |
| Inappropriate EATb | 28/196 (14.3) | 110/707 (15.6) | 206/1,098 (18.8) | 88/348 (25.3) | 0.049 |
a
Calculated by Pearson's correlation. Boldface indicates statistical significance, i.e., a P value of <0.05.
b
One hundred eighty patients received a combination of empirical antimicrobial therapy, and 22 were not treated by antimicrobials before blood culture results were available.