Bavaro DF, De Gennaro N, Belati A, Diella L, Papagni R, Frallonardo L, Camporeale M, Guido G, Pellegrino C, Marrone M, Dell'Erba A, Gesualdo L, Brienza N, Grasso S, Columbo G, Moschetta A, Carpagnano GE, Daleno A, Minicucci AM, Migliore G, and Saracino A
Background: Antimicrobial and diagnostic stewardship (AS/DS) principles are crucial for the management of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) infections. We evaluated the impact of a pro-active Infectious Disease (ID) consultation on the mortality risk of patients during an MDROs outbreak in a COVID-19 hospital., Methods: A quasi-experimental study was performed in a dedicated COVID-19 hospital, including patients with suspected/confirmed infection and/or colonization by MDROs, which were managed as follows: (i) according to the standard of care during the pre-phase and (ii) in collaboration with a dedicated ID team performing a pro-active bedside evaluation every 48-72 h in the post-phase., Results: Overall, 112 patients were included (pre-phase = 89 and post-phase = 45). The AS interventions included the following: therapy optimization (33%), de-escalation to narrow the spectrum (24%) or to lessen toxic drugs (20%), and discontinuation of antimicrobials (64%). DS included the request of additional microbiologic tests (82%) and instrumental exams (16%). With the Cox model, after adjusting for age, sex, COVID-19 severity, infection source, etiological agents, and post-phase attendance, only age predicted an increased risk of mortality, while attendance in the post-phase resulted in a decreased risk of mortality., Conclusions: Implementation of AS and DS intervention through a pro-active ID consultation may reduce the risk of 28-day mortality of COVID-19 patients with MDROs infections.