Comparative Prevalence of Acute Kidney Injury in Chinese Patients Receiving Vancomycin with Concurrent β-Lactam Antibiotics: A Retrospective Cohort Study

The combination of vancomycin and piperacillin/tazobactam (VAN + PTZ) provides a broad spectrum of activity against multiple pathogens. However, a major issue in previous research concerned significant nephrotoxicity associated with this drug combination, and most studies have been conducted in American and European countries, with no similar data available from China. Therefore, this study evaluated the nephrotoxic effects of VAN + PTZ in a large-scale Chinese cohort to determine the prevalence of acute kidney injury (AKI) in this population by comparing PTZ and vancomycin monotherapies and the combined use of vancomycin and β-lactam antibiotics.This retrospective cohort study identified adult patients who received vancomycin either as monotherapy or in combination with PTZ or carbapenem (VAN + CAR) for at least 48 hours at Jiangsu Province Hospital from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2018. Patients were also evaluated for the development of AKI, defined according to the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcome criteria. Duration of vancomycin exposure, steady-state trough vancomycin concentrations, and other risk factors for AKI were assessed. A Bayesian network meta-analysis was conducted to validate our results and comparatively evaluate the nephrotoxicity of β-lactam antibiotics in combination with vancomycin.In all, 752 patients were included in the present study. The prevalence of AKI was higher in the VAN + PTZ group than in the VAN and VAN + CAR groups (15.2% vs 4.0% and 6.0%, respectively). After adjustment for confounding factors, VAN + PTZ was still related to AKI (odds ratio [OR] = 4.37; 95% CI, 1.65-11.59; P = 0.003). The network meta-analysis indicated that VAN + PTZ was associated with a significantly higher risk for AKI than was VAN (OR = 3.23; 95% CI, 2.50-4.35), PTZ (OR = 2.86; 95% CI, 1.92-4.12), VAN + cefepime (FEP) (OR = 2.37; 95% CI, 1.80-3.19), or VAN + CAR (OR = 2.28; 95% CI, 1.64-3.21). However, there was no significant difference with respect to AKI prevalence among the VAN, PTZ, VAN + FEP, and VAN + CAR groups.The prevalence of AKI was higher with VAN + PTZ therapy than with VAN or PTZ monotherapy or with the concurrent use of VAN and FEP or CAR in our study. Clinicians should adequately assess renal function and consider this differential risk for nephrotoxicity when choosing empiric antibiotics in hospitalized patients to minimize the rates of AKI.