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Narrow-spectrum therapy accounted for >92% of antibiotic use and would not be monitored by most stewardship programs. Only 5% of antibiotic usage was due to culture-proven infection. Pneumonia and "culture-negative" sepsis were frequent reasons for prolonged therapy; further study of these conditions may allow reduction in treatment duration.

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Summary Background Modification of empirical antimicrobials when warranted by culture results or clinical signs is recommended to control antimicrobial overuse and resistance. We aimed to assess the frequency with which patients were started on empirical antimicrobials, characteristics of the empirical regimen and the clinical characteristics of patients at the time of starting antimicrobials, patterns of changes to empirical therapy at different timepoints, and modifiable factors associated with changes to the initial empirical regimen in the first 5 days of therapy. Methods We did a chart review of adult inpatients receiving one or more antimicrobials in six US hospitals on 4 days during 2009 and 2010. Our primary outcome was the modification of antimicrobial regimen on or before the 5th day of empirical therapy, analysed as a three-category variable. Bivariate analyses were used to establish demographic and clinical variables associated with the outcome. Variables with p values below 0.1 were included in a multivariable generalised linear latent and mixed model with multinomial logit link to adjust for clustering within hospitals and accommodate a non-binary outcome variable. Findings Across the six study sites, 4119 (60%) of 6812 inpatients received antimicrobials. Of 1200 randomly selected patients with active antimicrobials, 730 (61%) met inclusion criteria. At the start of therapy, 220 (30%) patients were afebrile and had normal white blood cell counts. Appropriate cultures were collected from 432 (59%) patients, and 250 (58%) were negative. By the 5th day of therapy, 12·5% of empirical antimicrobials were escalated, 21·5% were narrowed or discontinued, and 66·4% were unchanged. Narrowing or discontinuation was more likely when cultures were collected at the start of therapy (adjusted OR 1·68, 95% CI 1·05–2·70) and no infection was noted on an initial radiological study (1·76, 1·11–2·79). Escalation was associated with multiple infection sites (2·54, 1·34–4·83) and a positive culture (1·99, 1·20–3·29). Interpretation Broad-spectrum empirical therapy is common, even when clinical signs of infection are absent. Fewer than one in three inpatients have their regimens narrowed within 5 days of starting empirical antimicrobials. Improved diagnostic methods and continued education are needed to guide discontinuation of antimicrobials. Funding US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; US Department of Veterans Administration; US Department of Homeland Security.

Background Current guidelines for prevention of neonatal group B Streptococcal (GBS) disease recommend diagnostic evaluations and empiric antibiotic therapy for well-appearing, chorioamnionitis-exposed newborns. Some clinicians question these recommendations, citing the decline in early-onset GBS disease rates since widespread intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) implementation and potential antibiotic risks. We aimed to determine whether chorioamnionitis-exposed newborns with culture-confirmed early-onset infections can be asymptomatic at birth. Methods Multicenter, prospective surveillance for early-onset neonatal infections was conducted 2006–2009. Early-onset infection was defined as isolation of a pathogen from blood or cerebrospinal fluid collected ≤72 hours after birth. Maternal chorioamnionitis was defined by clinical diagnosis in the medical record or histologic diagnosis by placental pathology. Hospital records of newborns with early-onset infections born to mothers with chorioamnionitis were reviewed retrospectively to determine symptom onset. Results Early-onset infections were diagnosed in 389 of 396,586 live births, including 232 (60%) chorioamnionitis-exposed newborns. Records for 229 were reviewed; 29 (13%) had no documented symptoms within 6 hours of birth, including 21 (9%) who remained asymptomatic at 72 hours. IAP exposure did not differ significantly between asymptomatic and symptomatic infants (76% vs. 69%, p=0.52). Assuming complete guideline implementation, we estimated 60 to 1400 newborns would receive diagnostic evaluations and antibiotics for each infected, asymptomatic newborn, depending on chorioamnionitis prevalence. Conclusions Some infants born to mothers with chorioamnionitis may have no signs of sepsis at birth despite having culture-confirmed infections. Implementation of current clinical guidelines may result in early diagnosis, but large numbers of uninfected asymptomatic infants would be treated.

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