Background: Although several studies have evaluated the association of antimicrobial resistance and mortality in patients with Gram-negative bacteraemia, little is known regarding the impact of antimicrobial resistance on outcome in patients with intra-abdominal infections caused by Gram-negative bacilli (GNB). This study was performed to evaluate the impact of broad-spectrum cephalosporin resistance on outcome in patients with intra-abdominal infections caused by GNB.
Methods: Data on 365 patients with bacteraemic intra-abdominal infections caused by GNB were obtained from the database of a nationwide surveillance for bacteraemia, and analyzed.
Results: Seventy-one of the 365 patients (19.5%) harboured broad-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant infections. When compared with patients with susceptible infections, the group of patients with resistant infections had a lower treatment success rate at 7 days after the initiation of antimicrobial therapy (73.2% vs 85.0%, p = 0.023). However, the 30-day mortality rate for the resistant group was not significantly higher than for the susceptible group (16.9% vs 10.2%, p = 0.112). Multivariable analysis showed that severe sepsis was the most important risk factor associated with mortality (odds ratio 4.91, 95% confidence interval 2.26-10.63), along with underlying liver disease, nosocomial acquisition, underlying solid tumour, and higher Pitt bacteraemia score (all p < 0.05). Antimicrobial resistance and inappropriate initial antimicrobial therapy were not found to be associated with mortality.
Conclusions: Our data suggest that antimicrobial resistance and inappropriate initial antimicrobial therapy may not be significant determinants for the prognosis in intra-abdominal infections caused by GNB, for which drainage or decompression procedures of intra-abdominal sources are often necessary.