Efficacy and Pattern of Antibiotic Usage Among Patients with Cirrhosis and/or Chronic Liver Disease in Telangana, India

Abstract

Background and objectives: The most common Gram-negative bacteria, such as enteric bacilli, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Gram-positive bacteria, such as Streptococcus spp., are seen in patients suffering from cirrhosis and/or chronic liver diseases. The objective of this prospective observational study was to compare the efficacy and pattern of antibiotic use in patients with bacterial translocation. Methods: This 10-month study was conducted at the Gastroenterology Department of the KIMS hospital, Telangana, India. The patients were more than 18 years of age (n = 60) and diagnosed with liver cirrhosis and/ or chronic liver diseases. All data was analyzed statistically, at a significance threshold of p < 0.05. Results: Among the 60 patients, the Child-Pugh-Turcotte scores were A in 30%, B in 35% and C in 14%. White blood cell count was reduced from 12,620 ± 1,266 (before treatment) to 8,385 ± 944 (after treatment with antibiotics; p < 0.05). Serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase values were reduced from 360.1 ± 87.3 (before treatment) to 141.9 ± 37.9 (after treatment with antibiotics therapy (p < 0.001), whereas serum bilirubin values were reduced from 6.064 ± 0.91 (Before treatment) to 3.514 ± 0.44 (after treatment with antibiotics therapy; p < 0.0001). The mortality rate was 6.6 %, i.e. only 4 patients died post-treatment. It was also observed that meropenem was prescribed in the majority of cases and norfloxacin was the least prescribed of all antibiotics. Conclusions: Our study suggests that antibiotic treatment might be effective for patients suffering with cirrhosis or chronic liver diseases with improved life expectancy.

Efficacy and Pattern of Antibiotic Usage Among Patients with Cirrhosis and/or Chronic Liver Disease

“…A prospective and observational study was conducted by Kamila et al 1 to explore the effect of antibiotics in patients with cirrhosis and/ or chronic liver disease. 1 This work compared the white blood cell count in ascites, serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase level, Child-Pugh score, and MELD score before and after antibiotic treatment in cirrhotic patients with bacteremia.…”