A propensity score-matched analysis of the impact of minimum inhibitory concentration on mortality in patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia treated with cefepime or ceftazidime

The United States Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute recently elected not to revise ceftazidime and cefepime Pseudomonas aeruginosa minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) susceptibility breakpoints but rather recommended specific dosage regimens to correspond to breakpoints. This study's objective was to examine mortality of low and high MIC P. aeruginosa isolates in bacteremic patients treated with cefepime or ceftazidime. Data were gathered through a Veterans Health Administration national administrative database for veterans with P. aeruginosa blood cultures who received cefepime or ceftazidime. Seventy-four patients in the low MIC (≤2 μg/mL) group and 29 patients in the high (4-8 μg/mL) MIC group were included. Independent baseline variables associated with 30-day all-cause mortality were determined through multivariate analysis to calculate propensity scores and perform matching. All-cause 30-day mortality was not statistically significant between the 2 resultant propensity score-matched groups (17.2% mortality in the low MIC group versus 27.6% in the high MIC group; P = 0.34). Data suggested that P. aeruginosa bacteremia episodes where the cephalosporin MIC = 8 μg/mL may have higher mortality, however this may be reflective of higher propensity scores. Our study suggests that it is reasonable to designate a cefepime or ceftazidime MIC ≤8 μg/mL as susceptible for P. aeruginosa bacteremia infections, but potential suboptimal outcomes in episodes for which the P. aeruginosa MIC is 8 μg/mL may need further investigation.