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  • Impact of Difficult-to-Trea...
    Huh, Kyungmin; Chung, Doo Ryeon; Ha, Young Eun; Ko, Jae-Hoon; Kim, Si-Ho; Kim, Min-Ji; Huh, Hee Jae; Lee, Nam Yong; Cho, Sun Young; Kang, Cheol-In; Peck, Kyong Ran; Song, Jae-Hoon

    Clinical infectious diseases, 12/2020, Volume: 71, Issue: 9
    Journal Article

    Clinically relevant categorization of antimicrobial resistance is critical to mitigating the threat it poses. Difficult-to-treat resistance (DTR) is a recently proposed category defined as nonsusceptibility to all first-line antibiotic agents. A retrospective study was conducted with nonduplicate cases of gram-negative bloodstream infection (GNBSI) caused by 4 major taxa (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter species) identified from a nationwide surveillance database. DTR was defined as nonsusceptibility to all the β-lactams and fluoroquinolones tested. Patient characteristics and mortality were compared between DTR GNBSI and GNBSI caused by carbapenem-resistant but not DTR and extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant but not DTR isolates using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definitions. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for 30-day in-hospital mortality were examined for DTR in overall and in propensity score-matched cohorts. A total of 1167 episodes of monomicrobial GNBSI were identified, and 147 (12.6%) of the isolates were DTR. The majority of DTR isolates were Acinetobacter species (79.6%) and P. aeruginosa (17.7%). DTR infections were associated with previous antibiotic use, healthcare contact, ventilator use, and lower respiratory tract infection. Crude mortality for GNBSI caused by DTR was 50.3%. A multivariable model showed that only DTR, but not other categories, was significantly associated with mortality (adjusted odds ratio aOR, 3.58 95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.27-10.19). DTR was also a significant predictor for mortality in the analysis of propensity score-matched cohorts (aOR, 3.48 95% CI, 1.82-6.79). In patients with GNBSI, DTR was associated with higher mortality than those in other resistance categories. Our findings suggest that DTR could be useful for surveillance and prognostication.