This objective of this study was to compare clinical outcomes in hospitalized patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia (PNA) or bloodstream infection (BSI) receiving beta-lactam antibiotic (BLA) infusions with and without the guidance of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). A retrospective, parallel cohort study was conducted at two academic medical centers between December 2015 and January 2020, UF Shands Gainesville, which uses BLA TDM for select patients (BLA TDM), and UF Health Jacksonville, which does not use BLA TDM (No-BLA TDM). All hospitalized adult patients with respiratory or blood culture positive for P. aeruginosa who met diagnosis criteria for lower respiratory tract infection with a positive P. aeruginosa respiratory culture and who received ≥48 h of intravenous BLA with in vitro susceptibility within 72 h of positive culture collection were included. The primary outcome was a composite of presumed treatment failure defined as the presence of any of the following from index-positive P. aeruginosa culture collection to the end of BLA therapy: all-cause mortality, escalation of and/or additional antimicrobial therapy for P. aeruginosa infection after 48 h of treatment with susceptible BLA due to worsening clinical status, or transfer to a higher level of care (i.e., the intensive care unit [ICU]). Analyses were adjusted for possible confounding with inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW). Two-hundred patients were included (BLA TDM, n = 95; No-BLA TDM, n = 105). In IPTW-adjusted analysis of the primary composite endpoint, BLA TDM demonstrated a significant decrease in presumed treatment failure compared to No-BLA TDM (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.037, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.013 to 0.107]; P < 0.001). BLA TDM had more 30-, 60- and 90-day infection-related readmissions ([aOR], 11.301, 95% CI (3.595 to 35.516); aOR 10.389, 95% CI [2.496 to 43.239], and aOR 24.970, 95% CI [6.703 to 93.028]) in IPTW analyses. For both unadjusted and IPTW-adjusted cohorts, there was no significant difference in hospital and ICU length of stay, adverse effects while on BLA, or microbiological eradication between BLA TDM and No-BLA TDM. In hospitalized adult patients with P. aeruginosa PNA or BSI, the use of TDM-guided BLA infusions decreased the odds of presumed treatment failure compared to patients receiving BLA infusions without TDM guidance. Future studies should evaluate BLA TDM impact on readmission.
Keywords: Pseudomonas aeruginosa; beta-lactam antibiotics; beta-lactams; bloodstream infection; pneumonia; therapeutic drug monitoring.