Despite the Safety of Preoperative Cefazolin for Patients With Non-anaphylactic Penicillin Allergy, 20% of Practitioners Avoid Its Use.

Abstract

Cefazolin is commonly used for surgical site infection prophylaxis due to its low cost and effective coverage. However, it is controversial to use cefazolin in patients with a penicillin allergy despite the cross-reactivity between cefazolin and penicillin being only 1%. Ample literature shows that it is safe to use cefazolin in patients with non-anaphylactic penicillin allergies. However, there is often hesitation by anesthesiologists or orthopedists when prescribing this medication in this population. The current authors sent a 16-question survey to all the residency programs in the United States in anesthesiology and orthopedics asking physicians affiliated with these programs to answer a series of questions about their demographics, prescribing patterns, and knowledge of the cross-reactivity between penicillin and cefazolin. A total of 146 responses in each group, with 82.9% (n=121) of orthopedists and 78.8% (n=115) of anesthesiologists preferring cefazolin for patients with non-anaphylactic penicillin allergies. However, only 57.5% of anesthesiologists and 41.1% of orthopedists knew the correct cross-reactivity between cephalosporins and penicillin. If a provider knew the correct cross-reactivity between cefazolin and penicillin, he or she had an increased odds of prescribing cefazolin to patients with nonanaphylactic penicillin allergies (orthopedics odds ratio [OR], 4.77, P<.01; anesthesiologists OR, 3.59, P<.01). Therefore, this study supports that further education of orthopedic and anesthesia providers about the cross-reactivity between cefazolin and penicillin would lead to more evidence-based, cost-effective care. [Orthopedics. 2019; 42(5):e437-e442.].