Evaluation of total body weight and body mass index cut-offs for increased cefazolin dose for surgical prophylaxis

•2 g of cefazolin (CFZ) provides inadequate prophylaxis in some obese and non-obese patients.•A 120 kg total body weight cut-off does not accurately identify patients needing a CFZ dose increase.•A 35 kg/m2 body mass index cut-off does not accurately identify patients needing a CFZ dose increase.

French and American guidelines recommend increased dosage regimens of cefazolin (CFZ) for surgical prophylaxis in patients with a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 35 kg/m2 or with a total body weight (TBW) ≥ 120 kg. The objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of these cut-offs in identifying patients who require CFZ dose adjustment. A pharmacokinetic study was conducted in patients of varying TBW and BMI who received 2 g of CFZ intravenously for prophylaxis prior to digestive surgery. Adequacy of therapy, defined as a serum concentration of unbound CFZ (fCFZ) ≥ 4 mg/L, was evaluated 180 min (T180) and 240 min (T240) after the start of CFZ infusion. Possible factors associated with insufficient fCFZ levels were also assessed. A P-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. A total of 63 patients were included in the study, categorised according to BMI (<35 kg/m2, 20 patients; and ≥35 kg/m2, 43 patients) and TBW (<120 kg, 41 patients; and ≥120 kg, 22 patients). All patients had adequate drug levels at T180 but only 40/63 patients (63%) had adequate levels at T240. At T240, therapy was adequate in 15/20 patients (75%) and 25/43 patients (58%) with BMI <35 kg/m2 and ≥35 kg/m2, respectively (P = 0.20), and in 28/41 patients (68%) and 12/22 patients (55%) with TBW <120 kg and ≥120 kg, respectively (P = 0.28). No factor associated with insufficient fCFZ was identified. In conclusion, current BMI and TBW cut-offs are poor indicators of which patients could benefit from increased CFZ dosage regimens.