Continuous antibiotic treatment in sepsis improves survival

Patients with sepsis or septic shock are usually cared for in the intensive care unit and, in connection with this, receive antibiotic treatment. One of the most common types is so-called beta-lactam antibiotics, where the standard treatment until now has been intermittent infusions, that is, injections given at regular intervals during the day.

Large international study

To get a clearer picture of which treatment method gives the best results, researchers collaborated in 70 intensive care units in seven countries in a large international study, Bling III.
Patients in intensive care units who were treated for sepsis received either antibiotics at regular intervals as before, or as a continuous infusion. The researchers then followed up and analyzed deaths after 90 and 180 days, respectively.

Improved survival

The results showed that when researchers took into account factors such as age and disease severity, survival rates improved when patients received continuous injections of antibiotics. The results were recently presented at a conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and were simultaneously published in the journal JAMA.
The results are also supported by a meta-analysis of all studies performed in this field which were also presented at the same meeting and published in JAMA.

-The meta-analysis shows with great conviction that there is an advantage to giving continuous infusion. The 90-day survival rate increased by 2 percent. It may seem simple, but given the number of people being cared for in intensive care units around the world, this treatment method could make a big difference, says Frederic Sioval.
Read more about the study:

Continuous antibiotic treatment in sepsis improves survival (vard.skane.se)