The impact of early adequate antimicrobial therapy on 14-day mortality in patients with monomicrobial Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii bacteremia

The impact of colistin therapy for early adequate antimicrobial therapy on clinical outcomes has rarely been evaluated in patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia (PAB) or Acinetobacter baumannii bacteremia (ABB). We investigated the impact of early adequate antimicrobial therapy on 14-day mortality in 149 patients with monomicrobial PAB and ABB at two medical centers where colistin treatment was frequently used. Patients who survived the first 14 days of PAB/ABB received adequate antimicrobial therapy within 3 days of bacteremia more frequently than those who died (53.3 vs. 38.6 %), although this finding is not statistically significant (p = 0.10). After excluding patients who received adequate colistin therapy, the difference was statistically significant (94.6 vs. 58.8 %, p = 0.001). In a multiple regression model excluding patients who received colistin therapy, adequate antimicrobial therapy within 3 days of bacteremia was a preventive factor for 14-day mortality (adjusted OR = 0.23, 95 % CI = 0.07-0.80, p = 0.02). In another multiple regression model including patients who received colistin, compared to inadequate antimicrobial therapy, adequate non-colistin therapy was a preventive factor for 14-day mortality (aOR = 0.22, 95 % CI = 0.07-0.78, p = 0.019), but adequate colistin therapy was not (aOR = 8.20, 95 % CI = 1.07-62.90, p = 0.043). The favorable impact of early adequate antimicrobial therapy on 14-day mortality in patients with monomicrobial PAB/ABB may be lessened in the clinical practice of using colistin frequently. Further studies may be needed to evaluate the clinical impact of colistin therapy in patients with PAB or ABB.