Comparison of Continuous and Intermittent IV Infusion: METHODS
Data Sources
A literature search was conducted in the PubMed/MED- LINE (1950 to January 2010) and Embase (1980 to January 2010) databases and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. The Internet was searched by means of the Google search engine, and the reference lists of relevant articles were searched manually. The search terms included “vancomycin”, “continuous infusion”, “constant rate”, “intermittent infusion”, “discontinuous infusion”, and “administration”.
Selection of Studies
Pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and clinical studies were included if they compared continuous and intermittent IV administration of vancomycin. There were no restrictions on age of patients or quality of the trials. Studies with the following characteristics were excluded: nonhuman data, not published in English or French, published as abstract only, absence of a comparator arm with intermittent dosing, and assessment of intraperitoneal administration. suhagra 100
Extraction and Evaluation of Data
Studies were categorized according to the levels of evidence outlined in the US Preventive Services Task Force rating scale. The levels of evidence ranged from I, for evidence obtained from at least one properly randomized controlled trial, to III, for opinions of respected authorities, descriptive studies and case reports, or reports of expert committees. The data extracted from each study included the following information: study design, number of participants, characteristics of the study population, exclusion criteria, drug dosing regimens, outcome measures, and study conclusions.
