Table 2.

Antibiotic use within six months prior to detection of VREfm in the study population

	All patients (n = 33)	VREfm-colonised patients (n = 26)	VREfm-colonised patients with suspected infection (n = 7)	p value*
Antibiotics total, median (range)	5 (0–14)	5 (0–14)	7 (3–14)	0.150
Antibiotic classes, n (%)
Aminoglycosides	5 (15.2)	5 (19.2)	0 (0.0)	0.559
Beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor	22 (66.7)	16 (61.5)	6 (85.7)	0.378
Carbapenems	16 (48.5)	10 (38.5)	6 (85.7)	0.039
First-generation cephalosporins	3 (9.1)	3 (11.5)	0 (0.0)	1.000
Fluoroquinolones	1 (3.0)	0 (0.0)	1 (14.3)	0.212
Glycopeptides	11 (33.3)	9 (34.6)	2 (28.6)	1.000
Imidazoles	4 (12.1)	3 (11.5)	1 (14.3)	1.000
Macrolides	6 (18.2)	6 (23.1)	0 (0.0)	0.301
Penicillins	12 (36.4)	11 (42.3)	1 (14.3)	0.223
Phosphonics	1 (3.0)	0 (0.0)	1 (14.3)	0.212
Second-generation cephalosporins	8 (24.2)	7 (26.9)	1 (14.3)	0.652
Third-generation cephalosporins	14 (42.4)	13 (50.0)	1 (14.3)	0.195
Trimethoprim/sulfonamide combinations	9 (27.3)	5 (19.2)	4 (57.1)	0.068
Unknown antibiotic class	2 (6.1)	2 (7.7)	0 (0.0)	1.000
Antibiotic groups AWaRe classification†
Access Antibiotics, median (range)	1 (0–6)	1 (0–6)	1 (0–3)	0.629
Watch Antibiotics, median (range)	4 (0–13)	3 (0–13)	4 (2–12)	0.120

Signficant values (marked in bold) were defined as p < 0.05

VREfm, Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium

^*Fisher’s exact test or Mann–Whitney U test (p  < 0.05 was considered significant)

^†excluding two unknown antibiotics