Trends in Use of Postdischarge Intravenous Antibiotic Therapy for Children

Abstract

Children with complicated appendicitis, osteomyelitis, and complicated pneumonia have historically been treated with postdischarge intravenous antibiotics (PD-IV) using peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs). Recent studies have shown no advantage and increased complications of PD-IV, compared with oral therapy, and the extent to which use of PD-IV has since changed for these conditions is not known. We used a national children’s hospital database to evaluate trends in PD-IV during 2000-2018 for each of these three conditions. PD-IV decreased from 13% to 2% (risk ratio [RR], 0.15; 95% CI, 0.14-0.16) for complicated appendicitis, 61% to 22% (RR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.39-0.43) for osteomyelitis, and 29% to 19% (RR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.58-0.69) for complicated pneumonia. Despite these overall reductions, substantial variation in PD-IV use by hospital remains in 2018.