A study, published in the Journal of Hospital Infection, examines the impact of inactive antimicrobial therapy on sepsis patients in the intensive care unit.
Researchers conducted a retrospective, observational study in Glasgow between January 2010 and December 2013. They studied 12,000 blood cultures, of which 127 were deemed clinically significant.
The study shows the rate of inactive antimicrobial therapy was 47 percent. Patients who received antibiotics within the first 24 hours of being admitted to the ICU had lower mortality rates.
While severity of sepsis illness increased mortality, inactive antimicrobial therapy did not increase mortality or length of hospital stay. Additionally, researchers identified fungal bloodstream infection as a risk factor for receiving inactive antimicrobial therapy.