Prolonged infusion with β-lactam antibiotics for treatment of infection caused by non-susceptible bacteria: a study protocol for a systemic review and meta-analysis

Introduction Prolonged infusion with β-lactam antibiotics should theoretically produce a better clinical efficacy than intermittent infusion in severe infection and infection caused by non-susceptible micro-organisms. The efficacy of prolonged infusion in severe infection has been well illustrated recently, but is still confusing in non-susceptible microbial infection. The objective of this meta-analysis is to determine the clinical effects of prolonged infusion with β-lactams for patients infected by microbes non-susceptible to the given drug. Methods and analysis Literature searches will be performed with Medline, the Cochrane database, EMBASE database, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature database, the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wanfang database. Two reviewers will screen and select studies according to a priori defined eligibility criteria, and then the data from the included studies will be extracted. The quality will be evaluated based on a modified Jadad score and the Newcastle-Ottawa system for randomised controlled trials and observational studies, respectively. Data synthesis will be performed with Review Manager 5.3 software. Sensitivity analysis and publication bias will also be investigated. Ethics and dissemination No ethics approval is required. The full article will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at international conferences. PROSPERO registration number CRD42018105111.