Cycling empirical antibiotic therapy in hospitals: meta-analysis and models.

ABSTRACT: The rise of resistance together with the shortage of new broad-spectrum antibiotics underlines the urgency of optimizing the use of available drugs to minimize disease burden. Theoretical studies suggest that coordinating empirical usage of antibiotics in a hospital ward can contain the spread of resistance. However, theoretical and clinical studies came to different conclusions regarding the usefulness of rotating first-line therapy (cycling). Here, we performed a quantitative pathogen-specific meta-analysis of clinical studies comparing cycling to standard practice. We searched PubMed and Google Scholar and identified 46 clinical studies addressing the effect of cycling on nosocomial infections, of which 11 met our selection criteria. We employed a method for multivariate meta-analysis u

SUBMITTER: Abel zur Wiesch P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4072793 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature