Antibiotic review kit for hospitals (ARK-Hospital): a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial

<p><strong>Background:</strong> Strategies to reduce antibiotic overuse in hospitals depend on prescribers taking decisions to stop unnecessary antibiotics. There is limited evidence on how to support this. We evaluated a multifaceted behaviour change intervention (ARK) designed to...

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Huvudupphovsmän: Martin, L, Budgell, E, Peto, T, Walker, AS
Materialtyp: Journal article
Språk:English
Publicerad: Elsevier 2022
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author Martin, L
Budgell, E
Peto, T
Walker, AS
author_facet Martin, L
Budgell, E
Peto, T
Walker, AS
author_sort Martin, L
collection OXFORD
description <p><strong>Background:</strong> Strategies to reduce antibiotic overuse in hospitals depend on prescribers taking decisions to stop unnecessary antibiotics. There is limited evidence on how to support this. We evaluated a multifaceted behaviour change intervention (ARK) designed to reduce antibiotic use among adult acute/medical inpatients by increasing appropriate decisions to stop antibiotics at clinical review.</p> <p><strong>Methods:</strong> We performed a stepped-wedge, cluster (hospital)-randomised controlled trial using computer-generated sequence randomisation of 39 hospitals in 7 calendar-time blocks in the United Kingdom (25/September/2017-01/July/2019). Randomised implementation date was concealed until 12 weeks before implementation, when local preparations were designed to start. Co-primary outcomes were monthly antibiotic defined-daily-doses (DDD) per adult acute/medical admission (hospital-level, superiority) and all-cause 30-day mortality (patient-level, non-inferiority, margin 5%). Sites were eligible if they admitted non-elective medical patients, could identify an intervention “champion”, and provide study data. Sites were followed for at least 14 months. Intervention effects were assessed using interrupted time series analyses within each site, estimating overall effects through random-effects meta-analysis, with heterogeneity across prespecified potential modifiers assessed using meta-regression. Trial registration: ISRCTN12674243.</p> <p><strong>Findings:</strong> Adjusted estimates showed reductions in total antibiotic DDDs per acute/medical admission (-4.8% per year, 95% CI: -9.1%,-0.2%) following the intervention. Among 7,160,421 acute/medical admissions, there were trends towards -2.7% (95% CI: -5.7%,+0.3%) immediate and +3.0% (95% CI: -0.1%,+6.2%) sustained changes in adjusted 30-day mortality. Site-specific mortality trends were unrelated to the site-specific magnitude of antibiotic reduction (Spearman’s ρ=0.011, p=0.949). Whilst 90-day mortality odds appeared to increase (+3.9%, 95% CI: +0.5%,+7.4%), this was attenuated excluding admissions after COVID-19 onset (+3.2%, 95% CI:-1.5%,+8.2%). There was no evidence of intervention effects on length-of-stay (p>0.4).</p> <p><strong>Interpretation:</strong> The weak, inconsistent intervention effects on mortality are likely explained by the post-implementation onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ARK intervention resulted in sustained, safe reductions in antibiotic use among adult acute/medical inpatients.</p> <p><strong>Funding:</strong> NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research, RP-PG-0514-20015.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:2c35d197-d3c7-4220-a87d-dca0b5f8489e2023-02-07T08:51:31ZAntibiotic review kit for hospitals (ARK-Hospital): a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trialJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:2c35d197-d3c7-4220-a87d-dca0b5f8489eEnglishSymplectic ElementsElsevier2022Martin, LBudgell, EPeto, TWalker, AS<p><strong>Background:</strong> Strategies to reduce antibiotic overuse in hospitals depend on prescribers taking decisions to stop unnecessary antibiotics. There is limited evidence on how to support this. We evaluated a multifaceted behaviour change intervention (ARK) designed to reduce antibiotic use among adult acute/medical inpatients by increasing appropriate decisions to stop antibiotics at clinical review.</p> <p><strong>Methods:</strong> We performed a stepped-wedge, cluster (hospital)-randomised controlled trial using computer-generated sequence randomisation of 39 hospitals in 7 calendar-time blocks in the United Kingdom (25/September/2017-01/July/2019). Randomised implementation date was concealed until 12 weeks before implementation, when local preparations were designed to start. Co-primary outcomes were monthly antibiotic defined-daily-doses (DDD) per adult acute/medical admission (hospital-level, superiority) and all-cause 30-day mortality (patient-level, non-inferiority, margin 5%). Sites were eligible if they admitted non-elective medical patients, could identify an intervention “champion”, and provide study data. Sites were followed for at least 14 months. Intervention effects were assessed using interrupted time series analyses within each site, estimating overall effects through random-effects meta-analysis, with heterogeneity across prespecified potential modifiers assessed using meta-regression. Trial registration: ISRCTN12674243.</p> <p><strong>Findings:</strong> Adjusted estimates showed reductions in total antibiotic DDDs per acute/medical admission (-4.8% per year, 95% CI: -9.1%,-0.2%) following the intervention. Among 7,160,421 acute/medical admissions, there were trends towards -2.7% (95% CI: -5.7%,+0.3%) immediate and +3.0% (95% CI: -0.1%,+6.2%) sustained changes in adjusted 30-day mortality. Site-specific mortality trends were unrelated to the site-specific magnitude of antibiotic reduction (Spearman’s ρ=0.011, p=0.949). Whilst 90-day mortality odds appeared to increase (+3.9%, 95% CI: +0.5%,+7.4%), this was attenuated excluding admissions after COVID-19 onset (+3.2%, 95% CI:-1.5%,+8.2%). There was no evidence of intervention effects on length-of-stay (p>0.4).</p> <p><strong>Interpretation:</strong> The weak, inconsistent intervention effects on mortality are likely explained by the post-implementation onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ARK intervention resulted in sustained, safe reductions in antibiotic use among adult acute/medical inpatients.</p> <p><strong>Funding:</strong> NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research, RP-PG-0514-20015.</p>
spellingShingle Martin, L
Budgell, E
Peto, T
Walker, AS
Antibiotic review kit for hospitals (ARK-Hospital): a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial
title Antibiotic review kit for hospitals (ARK-Hospital): a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial
title_full Antibiotic review kit for hospitals (ARK-Hospital): a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial
title_fullStr Antibiotic review kit for hospitals (ARK-Hospital): a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial
title_full_unstemmed Antibiotic review kit for hospitals (ARK-Hospital): a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial
title_short Antibiotic review kit for hospitals (ARK-Hospital): a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial
title_sort antibiotic review kit for hospitals ark hospital a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial
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AT budgelle antibioticreviewkitforhospitalsarkhospitalasteppedwedgeclusterrandomisedcontrolledtrial
AT petot antibioticreviewkitforhospitalsarkhospitalasteppedwedgeclusterrandomisedcontrolledtrial
AT walkeras antibioticreviewkitforhospitalsarkhospitalasteppedwedgeclusterrandomisedcontrolledtrial