Prolonged antimicrobial prophylaxis following cardiac device procedures increases preventable harm: insights from the VA CART program.

Background: The rate of cardiovascular implantable electronic device (CIED) infection is increasing coincident with an increase in the number of device procedures. Preprocedural antimicrobial prophylaxis reduces CIED infections; however, there is no evidence that prolonged postprocedural antimicrobials additionally reduce risk. Thus, we sought to quantify the harms associated with this approach.

Objective: To measure the association between Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), acute kidney injury (AKI) and receipt of prolonged postprocedural antimicrobials.

Methods: CIED procedures entered into the VA Clinical Assessment Reporting and Tracking Electrophysiology (CART-EP) database during fiscal years 2008-2016 were included. The primary outcome was 90-day incidence of CDI and the secondary outcome was the 7-day incidence of AKI. The primary exposure measure was duration of postprocedural antimicrobial therapy. Associations were measured using Cox-proportional hazards and binomial regression.

Results: Prolonged postprocedural antimicrobial therapy was identified following 3,331 of 6,497 CIED procedures (51.3%), and the median duration of prophylaxis was 5 days. Prolonged postprocedural antimicrobial use was associated with increased risk of CDI (hazard ratio [HR], 2.90; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.54-5.46). Of the 27 patients who developed CDI, 11 subsequently died. Postprocedural antimicrobial use with ≥2 antimicrobials was associated with an increased risk of AKI (OR, 4.16; 95% CI, 2.50-6.90). The impact was particularly significant when one of the dual agents prescribed was vancomycin (adjusted OR, 8.41; 95% CI, 5.53-12.79).

Conclusions: Prolonged antimicrobial prophylaxis following CIED procedures increases preventable harm; this practice should be discouraged in procedural settings such as the cardiac electrophysiology laboratory.