This multicenter, prospective observational study of
patients with cSSTIs was designed to explore the current
epidemiology, treatment, and resulting clinical outcomes of
patients hospitalized with these infections. During an 18
month period we enrolled 1033 patients. Almost 3/4ths of
patients had at least one healthcare associated risk factor.
Infections of the lower extremity comprised over half the
cases and two-thirds has an open wound. In almost 90% of
cases antibiotic therapy was initially an empiric intravenous
agent, the most common of which was vancomycin. A substantial
percentage of the patients were treated wit hunnecessarily broad-spectrum agents. Empiric antibiotics
were discontinued in about 1/5th of patients because culture
results indicated they were not needed or the pathogen
was not susceptible to the selected agent. Over 40% of
patients underwent some form of surgical treatment. At
the end of therapy infection was improved or resolved in
almost 90% of patients. Because of the study design these
data likely reflect usual current clinical practice for managing
cSSTIs in hospitalized patients in the US. This study
provides useful information on the current epidemiology
and clinical management practices and outcomes of hospitalized
patients with cSSTIs.