Empiric Therapy With Carbapenem-Sparing Regimens for Bloodstream Infections due to Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae: Results From the INCREMENT Cohort

Background. There is little information about the efficacy of active alternative drugs to carbapenems except β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitors for the treatment of bloodstream infections (BSIs) due to extended-spectrum β-lactamase–producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-E). The objective of this study was to assess the outcomes of patients with BSI due to ESBL-E who received empiric therapy with such drugs (other active drugs [OADs]) or carbapenems. Methods. A multinational retrospective cohort study of patients with BSI due to ESBL-E who received empiric treatment with OADs or carbapenems was performed. Cox regression including a propensity score for receiving OADs was performed to analyze 30-day all-cause mortality as main outcome. Clinical failure and length of stay were also analyzed. Results. Overall, 335 patients were included; 249 received empiric carbapenems and 86 OADs. The most frequent OADs were aminoglycosides (43 patients) and fluoroquinolones (20 patients). Empiric therapy with OADs was not associated with mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 0.75; 95% confidence interval [CI], .38–1.48) in the Cox regression analysis. Propensity score–matched pairs, subgroups, and sensitivity analyses did not show different trends; specifically, the adjusted HR for aminoglycosides was 1.05 (95% CI, .51–2.16). OADs were neither associated with 14-day clinical failure (adjusted odds ratio, 0.62; 95% CI, .29–1.36) nor length of hospital stay. Conclusions. We were unable to show that empiric treatment with OAD was associated with a worse outcome compared with carbapenems. This information allows more options to be considered for empiric therapy, at least for some patients, depending on local susceptibility patterns of ESBL-E.