Safety and clinical outcomes of outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy for infective endocarditis in Christchurch, New Zealand: A retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVES

We examined the safety and clinical outcomes of outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy (OPAT) for patients with infective endocarditis (IE) in Christchurch, New Zealand.

METHODS

Demographic and clinical data were collected from all adult patients treated for IE over 5 years. Outcomes were stratified by receipt of at least partial OPAT vs entirely hospital-based parenteral therapy.

RESULTS

There were 172 episodes of IE between 2014 and 2018. OPAT was administered in 115 cases (67%) for a median of 27 days after a median of 12 days of inpatient treatment. In the OPAT cohort, viridans group streptococci were the commonest causative pathogens (35%) followed by Staphylococcus aureus (25%) and Enterococcus faecalis (11%). There were six (5%) antibiotic-related adverse events and 26 (23%) readmissions in the OPAT treatment group. Mortality in OPAT patients was 6% (7/115) at 6 months and 10% (11/114) at 1 year and for patients receiving wholly inpatient parenteral therapy was 56% (31/56) and 58% (33/56), respectively. Three patients (3%) in the OPAT group had a relapse of IE during the 1-year follow-up period.

CONCLUSION

OPAT can be used safely in patients with IE, even in selected cases with complicated or difficult-to-treat infections.