Study of Empiric Antibiotic Prescription Patterns and Microbiological Isolates in Hemodynamically Stable and Unstable ICU Patients With Community-Acquired Sepsis

Background: The efficacy of combination empiric antibiotic therapy for all intensive care unit (ICU) patients with community-acquired sepsis is a subject of ongoing debate in the era of increasing antibiotic resistance. This study was conducted to evaluate the patterns of antibiotic usage and microbial resistance in sepsis patients admitted to the ICU with both hemodynamically stable (HS) and unstable states and to analyze their clinical outcomes. Methods: In this observational study, patients aged 18 years and above who received antibiotics upon admission and had a culture report were included. These patients were categorized into the following groups: HS and hemodynamically unstable (HU), single or combined antibiotics group (more than one antibiotic used empirically to cover one or more groups of organisms), culture-positive and culture-negative group. The microbiological isolates were grouped according to their identified resistance patterns. The outcome parameters involved assessing the differences in empiric antibiotics use upon admission and microbial resistance with hemodynamic stability and investigating any associations with ICU and hospital outcomes. Results: The study included a total of 2675 patients, of which 70.3% were in the HS group, and 29.7% in the HU group. The use of combination antibiotics was significantly higher ( p < 0 .0001) across all groups. Carbapenems were used more frequently in the single antibiotic group ( p < 0 .001). The culture was positive in 27.8% ( n = 747) of patients. A significantly higher number of patients in the HU group ( p < 0 .001) were found to have carbapenem-resistant and multidrug-resistant organisms. The ICU and hospital mortality rates were significantly higher in the HU group ( p < 0 .001), the culture-positive group with resistance ( p < 0 .001), and the HS patients who received combination antibiotics. Conclusion: The usage of combination antibiotics, coupled with the presence of resistant organisms, emerged as an important variable in predicting ICU and hospital mortality rates in cases of community-acquired sepsis.