Background: The standard of care for complex bone and joint infections includes the use of IV antibiotics. A prior meta-analysis suggested that the outcomes for bone and joint infections treated with oral and IV antibiotics are similar.
Dr. Bethany Roy
Study design: Randomized, controlled trial.
Setting: Twenty-six U.K. sites during June 2010–October 2015.
Synopsis: The study enrolled 1,054 adults with bone or joint infections who would have been treated with 6 weeks of IV antibiotics; they were then randomized to receive either IV or oral antibiotics. Treatment regimens were selected by infectious disease specialists. The rate of the primary endpoint, definite treatment failure at 1 year after randomization, was 14.6% in the intravenous group and 13.2% in the oral group. The difference in the risk of definite treatment failure between the two groups was –1.4% (95% confidence interval, –5.6 to 2.9), which met the predefined noninferiority criteria. The use of oral antibiotics also was associated with a shorter hospital stay and fewer complications. The conclusions of the trial are limited by the open-label design. An associated editorial advocated for additional research before widespread change to current treatment recommendations.
Bottom line: Bone and joint infections treated with oral versus IV antibiotics may have similar treatment failure rates.
Citation: Li HK et al. Oral versus intravenous antibiotics for bone and joint infection. N Eng J Med. 2019 Jan 31;380(5):425-36.
Dr. Roy is a hospitalist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School.