Reviewed by Rupak Datta, M.D., Ph.D.; Yale School of Medicine
A single-center study from Australia evaluated antibiotic utilization, isolation of multidrug-resistant organisms, and infective diagnosis readmissions in the 12 months following antibiotic allergy testing (AAT) between May 2015 and March 2019. Patients with ≥1 beta-lactam allergies that completed AAT and had ≥1 admissions (cases) were matched to those with a beta-lactam allergy who did not undergo AAT and had ≥1 admissions (controls). Of 573 patients who underwent AAT, 155 cases and 155 controls were selected and matched by allergy type, age, gender, admission unit, and number of admissions. Analysis showed reductions in restricted antibiotic use (OR=0.48, 95% CI:0.28-0.82) and infective readmissions (OR=0.44, 95% CI:0.27-0.73) but no reduction in isolation of multidrug-resistant organisms. Limitations included the inability to account for allergy severity and the evaluation of inpatient antibiotic utilization alone.
Reference:
Trubiano JA, Marhoon N, Vogrin S, Chua KYL, Holmes NE. Matched Case-Control Study of the Long-Term Impact of Beta-Lactam Antibiotic Allergy Testing. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2020 Nov 17;64(12):e01823-20. doi: 10.1128/AAC.01823-20. PMID: 32988819.