DALI: Defining Antibiotic Levels in Intensive Care Unit Patients: Are Current  -Lactam Antibiotic Doses Sufficient for Critically Ill Patients?

Morbidity and mortality for critically ill patients with infections remains a global healthcare problem. We aimed to determine whether β-lactam antibiotic dosing in critically ill patients achieves concentrations associated with maximal activity and whether antibiotic concentrations affect patient outcome.

This was a prospective, multinational pharmacokinetic point-prevalence study including 8 β-lactam antibiotics. Two blood samples were taken from each patient during a single dosing interval. The primary pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic targets were free antibiotic concentrations above the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the pathogen at both 50% (50% f T>MIC) and 100% (100% f T>MIC) of the dosing interval. We used skewed logistic regression to describe the effect of antibiotic exposure on patient outcome.