BACKGROUND
Antimicrobial stewardship programs have been established in hospitals, but less studied in longâterm care facilities (LTCFs), a setting with unique challenges related to patient populations and available resources. This systematic review sought to provide a comprehensive assessment of antimicrobial stewardship interventions implemented in LTCFs, using metaâanalysis to examine their impact on overall antimicrobial use.
METHODS
Electronic searches of MEDLINE, Embase, and CINAHL (1990 to July 2018) identified any antimicrobial stewardship interventions in LTCFs, with no restriction on patient population, study design, or outcomes. Intervention components were categorized using the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organization of Care taxonomy on implementation strategies. Randomâeffects metaâanalysis used ratio of means to facilitate pooling of different metrics of antimicrobial use.
RESULTS
Eighteen studies (one randomized controlled trial [RCT], four cluster RCTs, four controlled pre/post studies, and nine uncontrolled pre/post studies) met inclusion, using 13 different antimicrobial stewardship intervention strategies; 15 studies used multifaceted (maximum, seven; median, four) interventions. The three most commonly implemented strategies were educational materials, educational meetings, and guideline implementation. Intervention labor intensity and resource requirements varied considerably among interventions. Metaâanalysis of 11 studies demonstrated that antimicrobial stewardship strategies were associated with a 14% reduction in overall antimicrobial use (95% confidence interval = â8% to â20%; P < .0001), with similar results by study design but high heterogeneity (I2 = 86%) for the uncontrolled pre/post study subgroup and no heterogeneity (I2 = 0%) for the cluster RCT and controlled pre/post study subgroups. Funnel plot analysis suggested publication bias, with a lack of publication of smaller studies showing increased antibiotic use.
CONCLUSION
Antimicrobial stewardship strategies implemented in longâterm care vary considerably in design and resource intensity, but collectively suggest potential to reduce antimicrobial use in this challenging setting. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:392â399, 2019.