Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Crit Care Med. Feb 4, 2015; 4(1): 13-28
Published online Feb 4, 2015. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v4.i1.13
Antibiotic stewardship programmes in intensive care units: Why, how, and where are they leading us
Yu-Zhi Zhang, Suveer Singh
Yu-Zhi Zhang, Suveer Singh, Departments of Intensive Care and Respiratory Medicine, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London SW10 9NH, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Singh S conceived and designed the article; Zhang YZ wrote the first draft; Zhang YZ and Singh S extracted and reviewed the studies in the Systematic analysis; Zhang YZ and Singh S revised the manuscript; Singh S rewrote the final revised version.
Conflict-of-interest: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Suveer Singh, BSc, MBBS, PhD, EDIC, DICM, FFICM, FRCP, Departments of Intensive Care and Respiratory Medicine, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, 369 Fulham Rd, London SW10 9NH, United Kingdom. suveer.singh@imperial.ac.uk
Telephone: +44-208-7468472 Fax: +44-208-7468040
Received: October 7, 2014
Peer-review started: October 8, 2014
First decision: November 19, 2014
Revised: November 21, 2014
Accepted: December 16, 2014
Article in press: December 17, 2014
Published online: February 4, 2015
Abstract

Antibiotic usage and increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) mount significant challenges to patient safety and management of the critically ill on intensive care units (ICU). Antibiotic stewardship programmes (ASPs) aim to optimise appropriate antibiotic treatment whilst minimising antibiotic resistance. Different models of ASP in intensive care setting, include “standard” control of antibiotic prescribing such as “de-escalation strategies”through to interventional approaches utilising biomarker-guided antibiotic prescribing. A systematic review of outcomes related studies for ASPs in an ICU setting was conducted. Forty three studies were identified from MEDLINE between 1996 and 2014. Of 34 non-protocolised studies, [1 randomised control trial (RCT), 22 observational and 11 case series], 29 (85%) were positive with respect to one or more outcome: These were the key outcome of reduced antibiotic use, or ICU length of stay, antibiotic resistance, or prescribing cost burden. Limitations of non-standard antibiotic initiation triggers, patient and antibiotic selection bias or baseline demographic variance were identified. All 9 protocolised studies were RCTs, of which 8 were procalcitonin (PCT) guided antibiotic stop/start interventions. Five studies addressed antibiotic escalation, 3 de-escalation and 1 addressed both. Six studies reported positive outcomes for reduced antibiotic use, ICU length of stay or antibiotic resistance. PCT based ASPs are effective as antibiotic-stop (de-escalation) triggers, but not as an escalation trigger alone. PCT has also been effective in reducing antibiotic usage without worsening morbidity or mortality in ventilator associated pulmonary infection. No study has demonstrated survival benefit of ASP. Ongoing challenges to infectious disease management, reported by the World Health Organisation global report 2014, are high AMR to newer antibiotics, and regional knowledge gaps in AMR surveillance. Improved AMR surveillance data, identifying core aspects of successful ASPs that are transferable, and further well-conducted trials will be necessary if ASPs are to be an effective platform for delivering desired patient outcomes and safety through best antibiotic policy.

Keywords: Antibiotic stewardship programme, Intensive care, Antimicrobial resistance, Antibacterial resistance, Antibiotic resistance

Core tip: Antibiotic stewardship programmes (ASPs) aim to optimise appropriate antibiotic treatment and minimise antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Multistrategic approaches must address challenges to future management of infectious disease. Models of ASP in intensive care unit, include “standard” control of antibiotic prescribing (e.g.,”de-escalation strategies”) through to interventional approaches utilising biomarker-guided decisions. Protocolised ASPs using procalcitonin guided antibiotic-stop but not antibiotic-start alone decisions demonstrate reduced antibiotic and AMR rates, but not survival benefit. Immediate research needs include better AMR surveillance, early microbial diagnostic tests, and core transferable elements of ASPs.