Guidelines recommend loading doses of vancomycin (15-20 mg/kg, up to 30 mg/kg in critically ill patients), but the risk of nephrotoxicity is unknown. A new retrospective cohort study aimed to compare nephrotoxicity in ED sepsis patients who received vancomycin at high doses (>20 mg/kg) versus lower doses (20 mg/kg).

What They Found

1,330 patients had three SCr values assessed for the primary outcome

High-dose initial vancomycin was actually associated with a lower rate of nephrotoxicity (5.8% vs 11.1%)

After adjusting for age, gender, and initial SCr, the risk of high dose vancomycin compared to low dose was decreased for the development of nephrotoxicity (RR=0.60; 95% CI: 0.44, 0.82)

Application to Clinical Practice

It appears initial loading doses of vancomcyin > 20 mg/kg do not cause increased risk of nephrotoxicity.

References