Association between Empirical Anti-Pseudomonal Antibiotics and Progression to Thoracic Surgery and Death in Empyema: Database Research

Abstract

Evidence on the optimal antibiotic strategy for empyema is lacking. Our database study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of empirical anti-pseudomonal antibiotics in patients with empyema. We utilised a Japanese real-world data database, focusing on patients aged ≥40 diagnosed with empyema, who underwent thoracostomy and received intravenous antibiotics either upon admission or the following day. Patients administered intravenous vasopressors were excluded. We compared thoracic surgery and death within 90 days after admission between patients treated with empirical anti-pseudomonal and non-anti-pseudomonal antibiotics. Cause-specific hazard ratios for thoracic surgery and death were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models, with adjustment for clinically important confounders. Subgroup analyses entailed the same procedures for patients exhibiting at least one risk factor for multidrug-resistant organisms. Between March 2014 and March 2023, 855 patients with empyema meeting the inclusion criteria were enrolled. Among them, 271 (31.7%) patients received anti-pseudomonal antibiotics. The Cox proportional hazards models indicated that compared to empirical non-anti-pseudomonal antibiotics, empirical anti-pseudomonal antibiotics were associated with higher HRs for thoracic surgery and death within 90 days, respectively. Thus, regardless of the risks of multidrug-resistant organisms, empirical anti-pseudomonal antibiotics did not extend the time to thoracic surgery or death within 90 days.

Keywords

• empyema
• antibiotics
• thoracic surgery
• mortality
• database research