Outpatient oritavancin bests inpatient SoC in acute uncomplicated cellulitis

Outpatient oritavancin therapy appears to be more effective than inpatient standard-of-care (SoC) in reducing 30-day hospital readmissions or admissions among individuals with acute uncomplicated cellulitis, a recent study has shown.

“Shifting inpatient antibiotic treatment to outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy may minimize treatment for acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections, including cellulitis,” the authors said.

In this retrospective, observational study conducted at a 941-bed community teaching hospital, the authors compared 30-day hospital readmission or admission due to cellulitis and economic outcomes of inpatient SoC management with outpatient oritavancin therapy.

A total of 1,549 adult patients aged ≥18 years who were treated for acute uncomplicated cellulitis between February 2015 to December 2018 were included in the study. The authors obtained data from hospital and billing department records. They then assigned patients to either inpatient SoC or outpatient oritavancin cohorts for comparison.

Of the patients, 1,348 were assigned to inpatient SoC and 201 to outpatient oritavancin. For admitted patients, the average length of stay was 3.6 days.

Only one patient in the outpatient oritavancin cohort had 30-day readmission or admission due to cellulitis compared with 49 in the inpatient SoC group (0.5 percent vs 3.6 percent; p=0.02). In addition, the outpatient oritavancin group showed improved difference between costs and reimbursement (p<0.001).

“Beneficial economic outcomes for the outpatient oritavancin cohort were observed,” the authors said. “Additional studies are required to confirm these findings.”