• Mical Paul, Jihad Bishara, Dafna Yahav, Elad Goldberg, Ami Neuberger, Nesrin Ghanem-Zoubi, Yaakov Dickstein, William Nseir, Michael Dan, and Leonard Leibovici.
• Unit of Infectious Diseases, Rabin Medical Center, Beilinson Hospital, Petah-Tikva, Israel Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Israel paulm@post.tau.ac.il.
• BMJ. 2015 Jan 1;350:h2219.

ObjectiveTo show non-inferiority of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole compared with vancomycin for the treatment of severe infections due to meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).DesignParallel, open label, randomised controlled trial.SettingFour acute care hospitals in Israel.ParticipantsAdults with severe infections caused by MRSA susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and vancomycin. Patients with left sided endocarditis, meningitis, chronic haemodialysis, and prolonged neutropenia were excluded.InterventionsTrimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole 320 mg/1600 mg twice daily versus vancomycin 1 g twice daily for a minimum of seven days and then by indication.Main Outcome MeasuresThe primary efficacy outcome was treatment failure assessed at day 7, consisting of death, persistence of haemodynamic instability or fever, stable or worsening Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score, and persistence of bacteraemia. The primary safety outcome was all cause mortality at day 30. Non-inferiority was defined by a difference of less than 15% for treatment failure.Results252 patients were included in the trial, of whom 91 (36%) had bacteraemia. No significant difference in treatment failure was seen for trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (51/135, 38%) versus vancomycin (32/117, 27%)-risk ratio 1.38 (95% confidence interval 0.96 to 1.99). However, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole did not meet the non-inferiority criterion-absolute difference 10.4% (95% confidence interval -1.2% to 21.5%). For patients with bacteraemia, the risk ratio was 1.40 (0.91 to 2.16). In a multivariable logistic regression analysis, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole was significantly associated with treatment failure (adjusted odds ratio 2.00, 1.09 to 3.65). The 30 day mortality rate was 32/252 (13%), with no significant difference between arms. Among patients with bacteraemia, 14/41 (34%) treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and 9/50 (18%) with vancomycin died (risk ratio 1.90, 0.92 to 3.93).ConclusionsHigh dose trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole did not achieve non-inferiority to vancomycin in the treatment of severe MRSA infections. The difference was particularly marked for patients with bacteraemia. Trial registration Clinical trials NCT00427076.© Paul et al 2015.

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