Matthew Scarborough1, Ho Kwong Li1,2, Ines Rombach3, Rhea Zambellas3, A Sarah Walker4,5, Martin McNally1, Bridget Atkins1, Michelle Kümin5, Benjamin A Lipsky6, Harriet Hughes7, Deepa Bose8, Simon Warren9,10, Damien Mack9,10, Jonathan Folb11, Elinor Moore12, Neil Jenkins13, Susan Hopkins10, R Andrew Seaton14, Carolyn Hemsley15, Jonathan Sandoe16, Ila Aggarwal17, Simon Ellis18, Rebecca Sutherland19, Claudia Geue20, Nicola McMeekin20, Claire Scarborough5, John Paul21, Graham Cooke2, Jennifer Bostock22, Elham Khatamzas1, Nick Wong1, Andrew Brent1, Jose Lomas1, Philippa Matthews1,5, Tri Wangrangsimakul1, Roger Gundle1, Mark Rogers1, Adrian Taylor1, Guy E Thwaites5, Philip Bejon5. 1. Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK. 2. Division of Infectious Diseases, Imperial College London, London, UK. 3. Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. 4. MRC Clinical Trials Unit, University College London, London, UK. 5. Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. 6. Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. 7. Department of Microbiology and Public Health, University Hospital of Wales, Public Health Wales, Cardiff, Wales. 8. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK. 9. Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust, Stanmore, UK. 10. Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK. 11. Department of Microbiology, Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, Liverpool, UK. 12. Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK. 13. Infectious Diseases, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK. 14. Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Gartnaval General Hospital, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Glasgow, UK. 15. Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK. 16. Department of Microbiology, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK. 17. Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Ninewells Hospital, NHS Tayside, Dundee, UK. 18. Infectious Diseases, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Cramlington, UK. 19. Infectious Diseases Unit, Regional Infectious Diseases Unit, Western General Hospital, NHS Lothian, Edinburgh, UK. 20. Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK. 21. National Infection Service, Public Health England, Horsham, UK. 22. Patient and Public Representative, Division of Health and Social Care Research, King's College London, , London, UK.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Management of bone and joint infection commonly includes 4-6 weeks of intravenous (IV) antibiotics, but there is little evidence to suggest that oral (PO) therapy results in worse outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether or not PO antibiotics are non-inferior to IV antibiotics in treating bone and joint infection. DESIGN: Parallel-group, randomised (1 : 1), open-label, non-inferiority trial. The non-inferiority margin was 7.5%. SETTING:Twenty-six NHS hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: Adults with a clinical diagnosis of bone, joint or orthopaedic metalware-associated infection who would ordinarily receive at least 6 weeks of antibiotics, and who had received ≤ 7 days of IV therapy from definitive surgery (or start of planned curative treatment in patients managed non-operatively). INTERVENTIONS: Participants were centrally computer-randomised to PO or IV antibiotics to complete the first 6 weeks of therapy. Follow-on PO therapy was permitted in either arm. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The primary outcome was the proportion of participants experiencing treatment failure within 1 year. An associated cost-effectiveness evaluation assessed health resource use and quality-of-life data. RESULTS: Out of 1054 participants (527 in each arm), end-point data were available for 1015 (96.30%) participants. Treatment failure was identified in 141 out of 1015 (13.89%) participants: 74 out of 506 (14.62%) and 67 out of 509 (13.16%) of those participants randomised to IV and PO therapy, respectively. In the intention-to-treat analysis, using multiple imputation to include all participants, the imputed risk difference between PO and IV therapy for definitive treatment failure was -1.38% (90% confidence interval -4.94% to 2.19%), thus meeting the non-inferiority criterion. A complete-case analysis, a per-protocol analysis and sensitivity analyses for missing data each confirmed this result. With the exception of IV catheter complications [49/523 (9.37%) in the IV arm vs. 5/523 (0.96%) in the PO arm)], there was no significant difference between the two arms in the incidence of serious adverse events. PO therapy was highly cost-effective, yielding a saving of £2740 per patient without any significant difference in quality-adjusted life-years between the two arms of the trial. LIMITATIONS: The OVIVA (Oral Versus IntraVenous Antibiotics) trial was an open-label trial, but bias was limited by assessing all potential end points by a blinded adjudication committee. The population was heterogenous, which facilitated generalisability but limited the statistical power of subgroup analyses. Participants were only followed up for 1 year so differences in late recurrence cannot be excluded. CONCLUSIONS:PO antibiotic therapy is non-inferior to IV therapy when used during the first 6 weeks in the treatment for bone and joint infection, as assessed by definitive treatment failure within 1 year of randomisation. These findings challenge the current standard of care and provide an opportunity to realise significant benefits for patients, antimicrobial stewardship and the health economy. FUTURE WORK: Further work is required to define the optimal total duration of therapy for bone and joint infection in the context of specific surgical interventions. Currently, wide variation in clinical practice suggests significant redundancy that likely contributes to the excess and unnecessary use of antibiotics. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN91566927. FUNDING: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 23, No. 38. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND: Management of bone and joint infection commonly includes 4-6 weeks of intravenous (IV) antibiotics, but there is little evidence to suggest that oral (PO) therapy results in worse outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether or not PO antibiotics are non-inferior to IV antibiotics in treating bone and joint infection. DESIGN: Parallel-group, randomised (1 : 1), open-label, non-inferiority trial. The non-inferiority margin was 7.5%. SETTING: Twenty-six NHS hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: Adults with a clinical diagnosis of bone, joint or orthopaedic metalware-associated infection who would ordinarily receive at least 6 weeks of antibiotics, and who had received ≤ 7 days of IV therapy from definitive surgery (or start of planned curative treatment in patients managed non-operatively). INTERVENTIONS:Participants were centrally computer-randomised to PO or IV antibiotics to complete the first 6 weeks of therapy. Follow-on PO therapy was permitted in either arm. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The primary outcome was the proportion of participants experiencing treatment failure within 1 year. An associated cost-effectiveness evaluation assessed health resource use and quality-of-life data. RESULTS: Out of 1054 participants (527 in each arm), end-point data were available for 1015 (96.30%) participants. Treatment failure was identified in 141 out of 1015 (13.89%) participants: 74 out of 506 (14.62%) and 67 out of 509 (13.16%) of those participants randomised to IV and PO therapy, respectively. In the intention-to-treat analysis, using multiple imputation to include all participants, the imputed risk difference between PO and IV therapy for definitive treatment failure was -1.38% (90% confidence interval -4.94% to 2.19%), thus meeting the non-inferiority criterion. A complete-case analysis, a per-protocol analysis and sensitivity analyses for missing data each confirmed this result. With the exception of IV catheter complications [49/523 (9.37%) in the IV arm vs. 5/523 (0.96%) in the PO arm)], there was no significant difference between the two arms in the incidence of serious adverse events. PO therapy was highly cost-effective, yielding a saving of £2740 per patient without any significant difference in quality-adjusted life-years between the two arms of the trial. LIMITATIONS: The OVIVA (Oral Versus IntraVenous Antibiotics) trial was an open-label trial, but bias was limited by assessing all potential end points by a blinded adjudication committee. The population was heterogenous, which facilitated generalisability but limited the statistical power of subgroup analyses. Participants were only followed up for 1 year so differences in late recurrence cannot be excluded. CONCLUSIONS: PO antibiotic therapy is non-inferior to IV therapy when used during the first 6 weeks in the treatment for bone and joint infection, as assessed by definitive treatment failure within 1 year of randomisation. These findings challenge the current standard of care and provide an opportunity to realise significant benefits for patients, antimicrobial stewardship and the health economy. FUTURE WORK: Further work is required to define the optimal total duration of therapy for bone and joint infection in the context of specific surgical interventions. Currently, wide variation in clinical practice suggests significant redundancy that likely contributes to the excess and unnecessary use of antibiotics. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN91566927. FUNDING: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 23, No. 38. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.
Entities:
Keywords:
ANTIBIOTIC; BONE AND JOINT INFECTION; INTRAVENOUS; NON-INFERIORITY; ORAL; RANDOMISED CONTROLLED TRIAL; TREATMENT FAILURE