Comparison of Nephrotoxicity and Hospital Costs in Patients With Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Bacteremia Who Received Vancomycin Versus Teicoplanin Therapy

In this retrospective observational study, data collection was performed using the patient list extracted from the medical management system of Taipei Medical University-Wan Fang Hospital. Hospitalized patients who had been prescribed either vancomycin or teicoplanin for treating bloodstream infection caused by MRSA and had at least one serum creatinine data within 7 days after initiating glycopeptide therapy were recruited for this study. The major outcome variables of interest were the new onset of nephrotoxicity, which was defined as decrease of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) for more than 25% or 50% from baseline based on serial serum creatinine (SCr) measurements. Other variables including age at admission, gender, comorbidities, laboratory data, concurrent medications (e.g., drug name, dose, route, dosing interval, starting date and end date), and medical cost information were also obtained from the database.

We performed this observational clinical study with 2 main goals: (1) to determine the rate of nephrotoxicity and mortality in patients with MRSA bacteremia treated with vancomycin or teicoplanin; (2) to determine whether vancomycin-associated nephrotoxicity increase length of stay and costs.