Antibiotic PK/PD research in critically ill neonates and children: how do we proceed?

摘要

Antibiotics are one of the most frequently used drugs in critically ill neonates and children. Nevertheless, they are often used off-label in these patients, with the highest incidence in the smallest patients. Laine et al. recently reported that an increase in birth weight significantly decreases the probability of off-label antibiotic use in a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit. In addition, antibiotic prescribing practices are highly variable between intensive care units, due to the lack of evidence-based data on optimal antimicrobial therapy in neonates and children.