Antibiotic Length of Therapy: Is Shorter Better in Older Adults?

Antibiotic lengths of therapy (LOT) vary widely, based on infection type, antibiotic regimen, and patient characteristics. Longer LOT are associated with increased risk of antibiotic resistance, adverse effects, and health care costs. There are increasing data supporting shorter LOT for many infections based on randomized, controlled trials (RCTs). To evaluate RCTs supporting shorter antibiotic LOT for common infections, with an emphasis on applying the data to older adults. A list of RCTs that evaluated shorter LOT for common infections was first gathered from the website of Brad Spellberg, MD, at https://www.bradspellberg.com/shorter-is-better. The list was then verified through a PubMed search using the terms for each infection and LOT. Of the 28 identified RCTs, 27 supported shorter antibiotic LOT. These trials were categorized by disease states: complicated urinary tract infections including pyelonephritis (n = 9), community-acquired pneumonia (n = 6), hospital-acquired pneumonia/ ventilator-associated pneumonia (n = 3), skin and soft tissue infections (n = 4), complicated intra-abdominal infections (n = 2), and gram-negative bacteremia (n = 3). The single incongruent trial was conducted on male patients with complicated urinary tract infections, and the results could be explained by a lower than usual dose of antibiotic utilized in the study. Many RCTs have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of shorter antibiotic LOT for the disease states included in this review. Several of these trials enrolled older adults. There are sufficient data to support using shorter antibiotic LOT in older patients. Implementing this strategy can help pharmacists and other health care professionals optimize antibiotic use in older adults.