Efficacy of ceftazidime/avibactam in monotherapy or combination therapy against carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteria: A meta-analysis

Clinicians may use ceftazidime/avibactam in combination with other active agents to treat infections due to carbapenem-resistant organisms, although no conclusive data support this practice. This meta-analysis compared the efficacy of ceftazidime/avibactam as monotherapy or combination therapy against infections due to carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPa). An online literature search was conducted to identify observational studies published as full papers and indexed up to February 2019 comparing the efficacy, in terms of mortality and microbiological cure rates, of ceftazidime/avibactam monotherapy or combination therapy with other active agents for infections due to CRE or CRPa. The relative risk (RR) of mortality and microbiological eradication was estimated based on pooled data from all eligible studies. Eleven studies were included in the meta-analysis accounting for 396 subjects, of whom 202 received combination therapy. The mortality rate was 38.1% for combination therapy and 30.9% for monotherapy (RR = 1.18, 95% CI 0.88–1.58; P = 0.259). Similarly, no difference was found between the two groups when analysing the rate of microbiological cure (64.9% for combination therapy vs. 63.4% for monotherapy; RR = 1.04, 95% CI 0.85–1.28, P = 0.705). Moreover, no difference was observed for both outcomes when patients infected with P. aeruginosa were excluded from the analysis. This meta-analysis suggests that use of ceftazidime/avibactam in monotherapy or combination therapy for infections due to CRE or CRPa could show a similar effect on mortality and microbiological cure rates. Studies on larger samples are needed to address this important issue.