Intravenous Versus Oral Treatment of the Main Acute Infections

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Oral treatment: Patients randomized to oral treatment will commence the oral treatment immediately. The oral treatment is based on specially developed treatment suggestions developed by microbiologists and specialists in infectious diseases from the participating regions, and in respect with local treatment guidelines (detailed described in the protocol).

Study summary

Patients admitted to the hospital with acute infections are often treated with intravenous (IV) antibiotics. Around 70% of these infections fall into three categories: respiratory tract infections, urinary tract infections, and cellulitis. A Danish study found that 76% of patients admitted with suspected community-acquired pneumonia and treated with antibiotics received them intravenously. Based on an extrapolated estimate from an unpublished local survey, approximately 50,000 patients in Denmark are admitted each year for infections and treated with IV antibiotics. The average hospital stay for these patients is 5.9 days, resulting in a total of 295,000 hospital days annually, accounting for about 7% of total hospital admissions in Denmark. This represents an annual cost of 2.3 billion DKK. While some patients need hospitalization due to their overall health or other serious conditions, others remain hospitalized primarily to receive IV antibiotics.

Expanding the use of oral antibiotics in emergency departments should be pursued only if it can demonstrate comparable efficacy and safety to IV administration. Therefore this study will investigate the efficiency of primarily oral antibiotics in acutely admitted patients with proven or suspected infections. Additionally, the investigators will evaluate the safety of oral regimen for these patients.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Days alive outside hospital (Efficacy) — From randomization date to 30 days
  The number of days the patients are alive outside hospital within 30 days after randomization
• Number of patients requiring treatment with vasopressors — From date of randomization to 30 days
  Number of patients that die or number of patients that require treatment with vasopressors within 30 days after randomization

Trial sites (7)

More University of Southern Denmark trials in Denmark

Other trials for the same condition