Antibiotic Stewardship through Use of a Preferred Antibiotic Regimen is Associated with Decreased Organ Space Surgical Site Infections in Uncomplicated and Complicated Pediatric Appendicitis

<b><i>Background:</i></b> There is a lack of consensus on the optimal antibiotic regimen for pediatric appendicitis, and conflicting data exist regarding the need for extended-spectrum use in this population. We implemented an antibiotic stewardship program with a standard, preferred antibiotic regimen for both uncomplicated and complicated appendicitis and hypothesized that clinical outcomes would be equivalent. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> This is a single-institution, retrospective study of pediatric patients (≤18 y) who underwent appendectomy for acute appendicitis between October 2015 and May 2022. We used institutional data from our stewardship program supplemented by manual chart review. Patients were assigned to pre- and post-pathway cohorts on the basis of appendectomy date. Patients were further stratified on the basis of whether they met criteria for complicated appendicitis on the basis of intra-operative findings. <b><i>Results:</i></b> There were 752 patients that were included: 346 (46.0%) in the pre-pathway cohort and 406 (54.0%) in the post-pathway cohort. The pre-pathway cohort had a higher rate of complicated appendicitis (40.2 vs. 25.6%). However, pre- and post-pathway cohorts had similar rates of post-operative infections, readmissions, and reoperations. When separated by complicated operative findings, patients with uncomplicated appendicitis had a shorter length of stay post-pathway implementation (p < 0.001). After controlling for complicated operative findings and pertinent covariates, the preferred antibiotic regimen was independently associated with decreased odds of post-operative organ space surgical site infections (SSI) (adjusted odds ratio 0.22, 95% CI: 0.05-0.99). <b><i>Discussion:</i></b> Antibiotic stewardship to increase the use of a standardized, preferred antibiotic regimen did not result in worse clinical outcomes. The preferred regimen was significantly associated with a decreased rate of organ space SSI, even when controlling for complicated operative findings. The mechanism of this finding requires additional study.