Incidence of Acute Kidney Injury Among Infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Receiving Vancomycin With Either Piperacillin/Tazobactam or Cefepime.

OBJECTIVES

To determine whether combination therapy with vancomycin and TZP is associated with a higher incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI) compared with vancomycin with cefepime in infants admitted to the NICU.

METHODS

This retrospective cohort study included infants in the NICU who received vancomycin/cefepime or vancomycin/TZP for at least 48 hours. The primary outcome was incidence of AKI, which was defined by the neonatal modified Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes AKI criteria.

RESULTS

Forty-two infants who received vancomycin with cefepime and 58 infants who received vancomycin with TZP were included in the analysis. The median gestational age at birth, birth weight, and dosing weight were lower in the TZP group, but other baseline characteristics were comparable, including corrected gestational age. Two patients (3%) receiving vancomycin/TZP versus 2 patients (5%) receiving vancomycin/cefepime met criteria for AKI during their antibiotic course (p = 1.00). There were no clinically significant changes in serum creatinine or urine output from baseline to the end of combination antibiotic treatment in either group.

CONCLUSIONS

Among infants admitted to our NICU, AKI incidence associated with vancomycin and either TZP or cefepime therapy was low and did not differ by antibiotic combination.