Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy for infections with methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus.

OBJECTIVES

As increasing numbers of patients are being treated with outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT), it becomes ever more important to ascertain the risks and benefits of such treatment for patients.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective analysis of 1,515 patients with methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus infections who were treated with outpatient parenteral antimicrobial monotherapy. All patients were included in the adverse drug reaction analysis; 1,252 were evaluable for purposes of evaluating treatment efficacy.

RESULTS

The six antibiotics most frequently used in this study (ceftriaxone, cefazolin, vancomycin, oxacillin, nafcillin, and clindamycin) appeared to be equivalent in achieving the desired efficacy outcome.

CONCLUSIONS

Vancomycin was associated with a significantly greater number of side effects than was ceftriaxone, cefazolin, or oxacillin, and nafcillin was associated with a significantly greater number of adverse events than ceftriaxone.