Background: As a tricyclic glycopeptide antibiotic used to treat acute infections, Vancomycin (VAN) is often administered with piperacillin/tazobactam (PT) to treat various infections in clinical practice. However, whether the combination of these two drugs, compared to VAN alone, can cause an increased risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) remains controversial.
Objectives: This study aims to identify the correlation between the development of AKI and the combined use of VAN and PT.
Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis of eight observational cohort studies (a total of 10727 participants received VAN and PT versus VAN and other β-lactams). PubMed, Chinese Biological Medicine Database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) Database, Wan Fang Digital Periodicals Database (WFDP), and China Science Citation Database (CSCD) were searched through April 2017 using "vancomycin" and "piperacillin" and "tazobactam" as well as "acute kidney injury" or "acute renal failure" or "AKI" or "ARF" or "nephrotoxicity." Two reviewers extracted the data and assessed the risk of bias.
Results: A correlation was found between the development of AKI and concurrent use of VAN and PT compared with concomitant VAN and β-lactams (OR 1.57; 95% CI, 1.13-2.01; I2 = 76.4%, p < 0.001). Similar findings were obtained in an analysis of studies comparing concurrent VAN and PT use with concurrent VAN and β-lactam (cefepime) use (OR 1.50; 95% CI, 1.07-1.93; I2 = 80.5%, p < 0.001). Exclusion of fair-quality and low-quality articles did not change the results (OR 1.49; 95% CI, 1.06-1.92; I2 = 84.1%, p < 0.001).
Conclusions: Regarding β-lactam therapy in clinical practice, an elevated risk of AKI due to the combined use of VAN and PT should be considered.
Keywords: Acute kidney injury; Meta-analysis; Piperacillin/tazobactam; Vancomycin.