Prolonged versus intermittent β-lactam antibiotics intravenous infusion strategy in sepsis or septic shock patients: a systematic review with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis of randomized trials

Background The prolonged beta-lactam infusion strategy has emerged as the standard treatment for sepsis or septic shock despite its unknown efficacy. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of prolonged versus intermittent beta-lactam antibiotics infusion on outcomes in sepsis or septic shock patients by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods A thorough search was conducted on MEDLINE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and the Igaku Chuo Zasshi databases. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing mortality between prolonged and intermittent infusion in adult patients with sepsis or septic shock were included. The primary outcome was hospital mortality. The secondary outcomes were the attainment of the target plasma concentration, clinical cure, adverse events, and occurrence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. We performed a subgroup analysis stratified according to the year of publication before or after 2015 and a trial sequential analysis (TSA). The Der Simonian-Laird random-effects models were subsequently used to report the pooled risk ratios (RR) with confidence intervals (CI). Results We identified 2869 studies from the 3 databases, and 13 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Hospital mortality did not decrease (RR 0.69 [95%CI 0.47-1.02]) in the prolonged infusion group. The attainment of the target plasma concentration and clinical cure significantly improved (RR 0.40 [95%CI 0.21-0.75] and RR 0.84 [95%CI 0.73-0.97], respectively) in the prolonged infusion group. There were, however, no significant differences in the adverse events and the occurrence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria between the groups (RR 1.01 (95%CI 0.95-1.06) and RR 0.53 [95%CI 0.10-2.83], respectively). For the subgroup analysis, a significant improvement in hospital mortality or clinical cure was reported in studies published in or after 2015 (RR 0.66 [95%CI 0.44-0.98] and RR 0.67 [95%CI 0.50-0.90], respectively). The results of the TSA indicated an insufficient number of studies for a definitive analysis. Conclusions The prolonged infusion of beta-lactam antibiotics significantly improved upon attaining the target plasma concentration and clinical cure without increasing the adverse event or the occurrence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Prolonged infusion could not improve hospital mortality although an improvement was shown for studies published in or after 2015. Further studies are warranted as suggested by our TSA results.