Comparison of Bleeding Risk Between Colistin-Tigecycline and Colistin-Carbapenem Treatment Regimens: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: Antibiotic combination is commonly used to treat multidrug-resistant pathogens. Reports have indicated that tigecycline use is associated with hypofibrinogenemia. However, whether the bleeding risk of tigecycline is higher than that of other antibiotics remains unknown. The aim of this study was to compare the bleeding risk between colistin-tigecycline and colistin-carbapenem treatment. Methods: This retrospective cohort study enrolled adult patients treated with colistin along with tigecycline or carbapenems (doripenem, imipenem-cilastatin, or meropenem) for >72 hours during hospitalization. The primary outcome was major bleeding events, which were determined by a hemoglobin drop of >= 2 g/d and receipt of blood transfusions with whole blood or packed red blood cells. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to determine risk factors for bleeding events. Results: In total, 106 and 268 patients in the colistin-tigecycline and colistin-carbapenem groups met the criteria for analysis, respectively. The two groups did not differ significantly in demographic data, except for alanine aminotransferase (ALT), serum creatinine (S-Cr) and ulcer disease. The colistin-tigecycline group had a higher ALT, S-Cr and a lower proportion of ulcer disease. Major bleeding events did not differ significantly between the colistin-tigecycline and colistin-carbapenem groups (12.26% vs 9.33%, P = 0.40). Antibiotic duration [OR = 1.06 (1.02-1.11), P=0.007)] and anticoagulant use [OR = 2.16 (1.05-4.42), P=0.04] were associated with major bleeding events. Conclusion: Colistin-tigecycline treatment was not associated with a higher bleeding risk. Antibiotic duration and concurrent use of anticoagulant were the risk factors of bleeding events.

Automated summary

This study aimed to compare the bleeding risk between colistin-tigecycline and colistin-carbapenem treatment, and found that there was no significant difference in major bleeding events between the two groups. The duration of antibiotic use and concurrent use of anticoagulants were identified as risk factors for major bleeding events.