Collaborative approach of individual participant data of prospective studies of de-escalation in non-immunosuppressed critically ill patients with sepsis

<b>Background</b>: There is a concern to conduct de-escalation in very sick patients. <b>Aims</b>: To determine if de-escalation is feasible in ICU settings. <b>Methods</b>: We performed a metaanalysis of published studies conducted comparing de-escalation (defined by withdrawal of at least one antimicrobial empirically prescribed, switch to a new antimicrobial with narrower spectrum and withdrawal of at least one antimicrobial plus change of another drug to a new one with narrower spectrum) in non-immunocompromised patients with sepsis admitted to ICU. <b>Results</b>: Eight hundred and seventeen patients with severe sepsis or septic shock were evaluated. De-escalation was applied in 274 patients (33.5%). We found no differences in hospital long of stay between de-escalation group compared to those who did not receive it. We also found significant lower hospital mortality in de-escalation group as compared with no modification group in front of the others (25.9 vs. 43.1%; p &lt; 0.001). Taking into account the etiology of infection, in both gram negative and gram positives microorganisms, de-escalation strategy was assessed as a good prognosis factor for mortality in the adjusted multivariate analysis (OR 0.41; 95% CI 0.22–0.74 and OR 0.33; 95% CI 0.15–0.70 respectively) whereas SOFA score along with age were found as a factors independently associated with a worse clinical outcome (OR 1.23; 95% CI 1.12–1.35 and OR 1.02; 95% CI 1.01–1.04 respectively). <b>Conclusions</b>: In our study there was an independent association of de-escalation and decrease mortality rate.