Abstract

BackgroundPneumonia (PNA), urinary tract infection (UTI), and acute bacterial skin and skin structure infection (ABSSSI) are the most common infections treated in the inpatient setting and often are associated with bacteremia. Though short courses of treatment are advocated for these infections in general, no established guidelines exist for cases involving bacteremia. We evaluated the clinical outcomes of patients receiving short (5–9 days) vs. long (10–15 days) duration of antibiotic treatment.MethodsA retrospective study was conducted at 3 area hospitals comprising a university-based tertiary center, a public safety net hospital, and a Veterans’ Affairs hospital. We included hospitalized adult patients with transient bacteremia associated with uncomplicated cases of PNA, UTI, or ABSSSI. The primary outcome consisted of a composite of rehospitalization or resumption of antibiotic treatment attributed to the original infection or death due to any cause within 30 days of the antibiotic start date. Secondary outcomes included the individual composite components, Clostridioides difficile infection, and antibiotic-related adverse effects leading to change in antibiotic therapy. A propensity score weighted logistic regression model was used to mitigate factors which could bias a patient toward receiving a shorter or longer treatment duration.ResultsOf 411 patients included in the study, 123 (29.9%) received a short duration of therapy and 288 (70.1%) received a long duration of therapy. The median duration of treatment was 8 days in the short group and 13 days in the long group. In the propensity-weighted analysis, the probability of meeting the composite primary outcome was not statistically different between the short and long groups (Table 1). However, receiving a short course was associated with a higher probability of restarting antibiotics and Clostridioides difficile infection.ConclusionShorter vs. longer courses of antibiotic treatment for bacteremia associated with PNA, UTI, and ABSSSI were not significantly different in a composite of readmission, restart of antibiotics, and mortality; however, further study is needed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of short-course therapy. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

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