Long-Term Outcomes in Patients on Life-Long Antibiotics: A Five-Year Cohort Study
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2022-01-01
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Antibiotics
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MDPI
Melbourne Authors
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Infectious Diseases
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Journal Article
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Kiss, C., Connoley, D., Connelly, K., Horne, K., Korman, T., Woolley, I. & Lau, J. S. Y. (2022). Long-Term Outcomes in Patients on Life-Long Antibiotics: A Five-Year Cohort Study. Antibiotics, 11 (1), https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics11010062.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Little is known about the impacts at an individual level of long-term antibiotic consumption. We explored health outcomes of long-term antibiotic therapy prescribed to a cohort of patients to suppress infections deemed incurable. METHODS: We conducted a 5-year longitudinal study of patients on long-term antibiotics at Monash Health, a metropolitan tertiary-level hospital network in Australia. Adults prescribed antibiotics for >12 months to suppress chronic infection or prevent recurrent infection were included. A retrospective review of medical records and a descriptive analysis was conducted. RESULTS: Twenty-seven patients were followed up during the study period, from 29 patients originally identified in Monash Health in 2014. Seven of the 27 patients (26%) died from causes unrelated to the suppressed infection, six (22%) ceased long-term antibiotic therapy and two (7%) required treatment modification. Fifteen (56%) were colonised with multiresistant microorganisms, including vancomycin resistant Enterococci, methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaciae. CONCLUSIONS: This work highlights the potential pitfalls of long-term antibiotic therapy, and the frailty of this cohort, who are often ineligible for definitive curative therapy.