Decisiones al final de la vida: suspensión de antibióticos en presencia de infección activa

Limitation of therapy has been little studied in our environment. Data were gathered on all patients with active infection consecutively admitted to the internal medicine department of our hospital in whom antibiotic therapy was withdrawn or withheld. The characteristics of patients who died and those of patients who survived were compared. A total of 63 patients (8.9% of admissions) were included; the mean age was 84.6 years ± 9.1. Dementia was present in 86%, incapacity in 73% and neoplasms in 30%. In all patients, the reason for withdrawing or withholding antibiotic treatment was the perception of impending death and/or lack of response to active treatment. In all patients, the families were involved in the decision to forego treatment. Mortality was 89%. Female sex was more common (95% versus 76%) and length of stay (9.6 versus 16.0 days) and time without antibiotic treatment (2.9 versus 8.5 days) were shorter in patients who died than in the group who survived. The decision to forego antibiotic treatment is not infrequent in our hospital. Most patients were elderly, had diseases with poor vital prognosis, and showed poor prior health status.