Figure 2
Effects of pharmacodynamic-based antibiotic dosing on ICU[15–17, 22, 29], hospital[30, 34, 36, 37], 14-day[25], 30-day[35], or unspecified (ICU or hospital)[18–21, 27, 28, 31, 33]mortality grouped by RCT versus cohort studies. Individual study RRs with 95% CIs are shown as squares with lines, and pooled RRs with 95% CI, calculated by using random-effects models both overall and separately for each subgroup, are shown as diamonds. The interaction P value, calculated by using a Z test, testing for subgroup differences between the RCT and cohort studies, was not significant (P = 0.61). The pooled results for the RCTs were essentially unchanged if ICU mortality was replaced by the more-prolonged hospital mortality for the studies that also provided these data [22, 29] (nine RCTs, 620 patients, RR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.64 to 1.17; P = 0.34; I2 = 0%), or if the results of the partial RCT [16] were excluded (eight RCTs, 602 patients; RR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.64 to 1.21; P = 0.42, I2 = 0%). Weight refers to the weighting of each individual study to the overall pooled RR. CI, confidence interval; IV, inverse variance; RCT, randomized controlled trial; RR, relative risk.