title: Burden of methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureuspneumonia among hospitalized patients in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study is to describe the real-world treatment patterns and burden of suspected or confirmed methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) pneumonia in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective chart review study evaluated 2011-2012 data from hospitals in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. Patients were included if they had been discharged with a diagnosis of MRSA pneumonia, which was culture proven or suspected based on clinical criteria. Hospital data were abstracted for a random sample of patients to capture demographics (eg, age and comorbidities), treatment patterns (eg, timing and use of antimicrobials), hospital resource utilization (eg, length of stay), and clinical outcomes (eg, clinical status at discharge and mortality). Descriptive results were reported using frequencies or proportions for categorical variables and mean and standard deviation for continuous variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Chart-level data were collected for 93 patients with MRSA pneumonia, 50 in Saudi Arabia and 43 in Lebanon. The average age of the patients was 56 years, and 60% were male. The most common comorbidities were diabetes (39%), congestive heart failure (30%), coronary artery disease (29%), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (28%). Patients most frequently had positive cultures from pulmonary (87%) and blood (27%) samples. All isolates were sensitive to vancomycin, teicoplanin, and linezolid, and only one-third of the isolates tested were sensitive to ciprofloxacin. Beta-lactams (inactive therapy for MRSA) were prescribed 21% of the time across all lines of therapy, with 42% of patients receiving first-line beta-lactams. Fifteen percent of patients did not receive any antibiotics that were considered to be MRSA active. The mean hospital length of stay was 32 days, and in-hospital mortality was 30%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The treatment for MRSA pneumonia in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon may be suboptimal with inactive therapy prescribed a substantial proportion of the time. The information gathered from this Middle East sample provides important perspectives on the current treatment patterns.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection Prevention and Control, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, King Saud bin AbdulAziz University for Health Sciences, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Abdulhakeem O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Althaqafi
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Disease, Notre Dame de Secours University Hospital, Byblos.
authors.forename: Madonna J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Matar
authors.affiliation: Makassed General Hospital, Beirut, Lebanese Republic.
authors.forename: Rima
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moghnieh
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Central Region, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs.
authors.forename: Adel F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Alothman
authors.affiliation: Infection Prevention & Control Department, King Abdulaziz Medical City-Riyadh (KAMC), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Thamer H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Alenazi
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection Prevention and Control, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, King Saud bin AbdulAziz University for Health Sciences, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Fayssal
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Farahat
authors.affiliation: Real World Evidence: Data Analytics Center of Excellence, Pharmerit International, Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: Shelby
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Corman
authors.affiliation: Real World Evidence: Data Analytics Center of Excellence, Pharmerit International, Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: Caitlyn T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Solem
authors.affiliation: Medical Affairs, Pfizer, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Nirvana
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Raghubir
authors.affiliation: Medical Data Analytics, Parsippany, NJ.
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Macahilig
authors.affiliation: Outcomes & Evidence, Global Health and Value, Pfizer, Groton, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Seema
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haider
authors.affiliation: Real World Evidence: Data Analytics Center of Excellence, Pharmerit International, Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: Jennifer M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Stephens
keywords: MRSA; Middle East; antibiotics; length of stay; mortality; resource use