MAJOR ARTICLE

Effect of Aminoglycoside and b-Lactam

Combination Therapy versus b-Lactam Monotherapy
on the Emergence of Antimicrobial Resistance:
A Meta-analysis of Randomized, Controlled Trials
Ioannis A. Bliziotis,1 George Samonis,3 Konstantinos Z. Vardakas,1 Stavroula Chrysanthopoulou,1
and Matthew E. Falagas1,2,4

Background. The addition of an aminoglycoside to a b-lactam therapy regimen has been suggested to have
a beneficial effect in delaying or preventing the development of antimicrobial resistance. We studied the effect of
aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination therapy versus b-lactam monotherapy on the emergence of resistance.
Methods. We performed a meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) that compared aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination therapy with b-lactam monotherapy and that reported data regarding the emergence
of resistance (primary outcome) and/or development of superinfection, treatment failure, treatment failure attributable to emergence of resistance, treatment failure attributable to superinfection, all-cause mortality during
treatment, and mortality due to infection. Data for this meta-analysis were identified from the PubMed database,
Current Contents database, Cochrane central register of controlled trials, and references in relevant articles.
Results. A total of 8 RCTs were included in the analysis. b-Lactam monotherapy was not associated with a
greater emergence of resistance than was the aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination (odds ratio [OR], 0.90; 95%
confidence interval [CI], 0.561.47). Actually, b-lactam monotherapy was associated with fewer superinfections
(OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.420.93) and fewer treatment failures (OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.381.01). Rates of treatment
failure attributable to emergence of resistance (OR, 3.09; 95% CI, 0.7512.82), treatment failure attributable to
superinfection (OR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.331.10), all-cause mortality during treatment (OR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.401.25),
and mortality due to infection (OR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.461.21) did not differ significantly between the 2 regimens.
Conclusions. Compared with b-lactam monotherapy, the aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination was not
associated with a beneficial effect on the development of antimicrobial resistance among initially antimicrobialsusceptible isolates.
Combination antimicrobial therapy has been tried for
the management of a variety of infectious diseases, primarily because drugs with different mechanisms of action may act synergistically (i.e., a 14-fold decrease in
the MIC of each drug when tested together against a
pathogen in vitro). Combination therapy may also allow the use of smaller doses of each of the combined
drugs. The initial successful example of clinical use of

Received 6 December 2004; accepted 19 February 2005; electronically published

31 May 2005.
Reprints or correspondence: Dr. Matthew E. Falagas, 9 Neapoleos St., Marousi
151 23, Greece (matthew.falagas@tufts.edu).
Clinical Infectious Diseases 2005; 41:14958
 2005 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.
1058-4838/2005/4102-0002$15.00

combinations of antimicrobial agents was the treatment

of infections due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, for
which combination therapy decreased the rate of development of resistance to rifampin [1]. Later, the same
approach was used for the management of prosthetic
valve endocarditis due to Staphylococcus species [2].
The rationale of using aminoglycoside/b-lactam
combinations to delay or prevent the emergence of antimicrobial resistance was developed from data from
animal studies in the early and mid-1980s [35]. Since
then, the practice of using aminoglycoside/b-lactam
combination therapy has become very popular for the
management of infectious diseases in various conditions and patient populations. However, recent data
have questioned the postulated beneficial effect of the
Aminoglycoside/b-Lactam Resistance Emergence CID 2005:41 (15 July) 149

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1
Alfa Institute of Biomedical Sciences (AIBS) and 2Department of Medicine, Henry Dunant Hospital, Athens, and 3Department of Medicine,
University of Crete, School of Medicine, Iraklion, Greece; and 4Department of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston,
Massachusetts

Table 1. Reported data on the emergence of antimicrobial resistance and superinfection from the randomized, controlled trials
included in the analysis

Treatment regimen
Mono arm

Combo arm

Duration of
treatment

Time of
clinical
evaluation

Year

Patient population

Setting

[61]

1995

Adults with serious hospitalacquired infection

Multicenter study from

North and South
America, Asia, and
Europe

Czid, 2 g q12h

Ctri, 2 g q.d., plus Tm, 35

a
mg/kg

No limit

At end of treatment
and 14 days AT

[62]

1994

Patients aged 116 years with

serious infections (e.g.,
pneumonia, sepsis, and
peritonitis)

73% of the patients

were in the ICU in 3
Swiss hospitals

Imi, 500 mg q6h

Imi, 500 mg q6h, plus Net,

150 mg q12h

No limit

[74]

1993

Adults and trauma patients

with pneumonia

ICUs in a US hospital

Cper, 2 g q12h, or Czid,

2 g q8h

Either Cper, 2 g q12h, or

Czid, 2 g q8h, plus Gm,
1 mg/kg q8h

No limit

[67]

1992

Patients aged 118 years with

nonlife-threatening infections (e.g., biliary infection,
gynecological infection, intra-abdominal infection,
LRTI, or septicemia)

12 German and 5
Austrian hospitals

Imi/Cil, 500/500 mg q8h

Ctax, 2 g q8h, plus Gm,

23 mg/kg q.d.

172 h

At end of treatment

[12]

1989

Adults with cholangitis

US hospital

Mez, 4 g q6h

Amp, 1 g q4h, plus Gm,

1.5 mg/kg q8h

15 days and

At end of treatment
and after 2
months

Either Cfaz, 1.5 g q8h, or

Tic, 3 g q4h, plus Tm,
1.7 mg/kg q8h

15 days and

Tic, 3 g q4h, plus Tm, 1

mg/kg q8h

14 days and

Carb, 41.583.5 mg/kg q4h,

d
or Tic plus either Gm,
d
4.5 mg/kg q.d., or Tm

No limit; treatment
stopped after 3
afebrile days

[21]

[30]

[33]

1987

1985

1983

Patients aged 116 years with

pneumonia

Canadian hospitals

Patients with pneumonia

and/or bacteremia

US hospital

Adults with various serious

infections

Canadian hospital

Czid, 2 g q8h

Czid, 2 g q8h

Pip, 2550 mg/kg q4h

!30 days

At end of treatment

!21 days

!16 days

NOTE. Amp, ampicillin; AT, after treatment; Carb, carboxypenicillin; Cfaz, cefazolin; Cil, cilastatin; combo arm, aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination therapy
arm; Cper, cefoperazone; Ctax, cefotaxime; Ctri, ceftriaxone; Czid, ceftazidime; Gm, gentamicin; ICU, intensive care unit; Imi, imipenem; LRTI, lower respiratory
tract infection; Mez, mezlocillin; mono arm, b-lactam monotherapy arm; ND, data not reported; Net, netilmicin; Pip, piperacillin; Tic, ticarcillin; Tm, tobramycin.
a
b
c
d

Modified dose/dosing according to serum levels.

Mean duration of therapy, 8 days.
Data are no. of pathogens.
Dosage not reported

aminoglycoside/b-lactam combinations on several outcomes,

including their effectiveness for curing infection and decreasing
mortality [6].
We tried to evaluate whether the addition of an aminoglycoside to a b-lactam therapy regimen has an effect on the
development of antimicrobial resistance among hospitalized,
nonneutropenic patients with serious infections. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis of the available randomized, controlled
trials (RCTs) that examined the use of b-lactam monotherapy
versus aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination therapy and presented data regarding the emergence of antimicrobial-resistant
organisms during treatment or during the follow-up period.
METHODS
Data sources. Relevant studies for our meta-analysis were
identified from searches of the PubMed database, Current Con150 CID 2005:41 (15 July) Bliziotis et al.

tents database, Cochrane central register of controlled trials,

and references from articles, including review papers. Search
terms included monotherapy, combination therapy, resistance, susceptibility, synergy, b-lactam, aminoglycoside, clinical trial, and randomized controlled trial.
Study selection. Two independent reviewers performed literature searches and examined the identified relevant studies
for further evaluation of data on effectiveness and toxicity. A
study was considered eligible if (1) it was an RCT, (2) it compared b-lactam monotherapy with the combination of an aminoglycoside with a b-lactam for the treatment of infection in
hospitalized patients, (3) it examined the development of emergence of resistance (i.e., a change to a more-resistant phenotype) of bacterial isolates, (4) it studied the effectiveness of
therapy and the mortality rate, (5) it was performed with adult
patients, (6) it was written in the English language, and (7) it

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Study

No. of
clinically
evaluable
patients

No. of
microbiologically
evaluable
patients

Predominant organisms
isolated before treatment
(% of patients)

No. of
patients with
reisolation of
initial pathogen /
no. of patients

No. of
patients with
emergence of
resistant isolates /
no. of patients

No. of
patients with
super-infections /
no. of patients

Frequency of
follow-up cultures

Mono
arm

Combo
arm

Mono
arm

Combo
arm

Mono
arm

Combo
arm

Mono
arm

Combo
arm

Mono
arm

Combo
arm

3045 days AT

261

230

197

188

Pseudomonas aeruginosa,
Klebsiella species, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter
species, Staphylococcus
aureus

24-day intervals
during treatment
and 14 days AT

ND

ND

12/197

14/188

14/306

20/274

None

142

138

98

101

E. coli, P. aeruginosa, Enterococcus faecalis, Klebsiella

species

Not specified

ND

ND

6/98

9/101

8/142

11/138

None

39

70

39

70

S. aureus (21), Enterobacter

species (14), Haemophilus
influenzae (13), Acinetobacter species (11)

At day 5, day 7, or if
symptoms
persisted

6/39

14/70

5/39

13/70

11/39

34/70

None

144

124

94

68

E. coli, Pseudomonas species,

enterococci, Bacteroides
species, S. aureus

During therapy (not

specified) and 13
days AT

7/144

6/124

1/94

1/68

ND

ND

Up to 3 years

24

22

24

22

E. coli, anaerobic gram-positive

bacilli, Klebsiella pneumoniae

Days 1, 3, and 5
and 48 h, 2
weeks, and 8
weeks AT

4/24

9/22

0/24

0/22

0/24

3/22

30 Days AT

52

58

37

38

Klebsiella species, P. aeruginosa, E. coli, S. aureus, H.

influenzae

Not specified

12/57c

14/64c

2/37

0/38

3/52

5/58

None

21

19

21

19

Staphylococcus species, P.
aeruginosa, Streptococcus
pneumoniae, K. pneumoniae

Not specified

ND

ND

0/21

0/19

3/21

0/19

2 Weeks or up
to hospital
discharge

26

24

21

17

P. aeruginosa (40), S. aureus,

enterococci

Every 4 days and at

2472 h AT

8/21

5/17

6/21

2/17

5/26

4/24

was published after 1 January 1980. Both studies with blinded

designs and those with unblinded designs were included in the
analysis. Experimental trials and studies focusing on pharmacokinetic and/or pharmacodynamic parameters were excluded.
In addition, studies that focused on patients with neutropenia
or patients with cystic fibrosis were excluded.
Data extraction. The following data were extracted from
each study: year of publication, clinical setting, patient population, number of patients, antimicrobial agents and doses used,
mortality, and clinical and microbiological outcomes. Data were
extracted by 2 independent reviewers. Any disagreement between the 2 reviewers was resolved by consensus in meetings
that involved all authors.
Outcomes. The primary outcome of the analysis was emergence of antimicrobial resistancethat is, the proportion of
patients in whom bacterial isolates became resistant to the
drug(s) administered to them, during treatment or during the
follow-up study period. An organism was considered to have
developed resistance only if it was clear from the study that it
was reisolated and its susceptibility had changed to a moreresistant phenotype (i.e., from initially susceptible to inter-

mediate or to resistant, or from initially intermediate to resistant). Secondary outcomes of the analysis were development
of superinfection (i.e., isolation of a pathogen thought to be
responsible for an infection that was of a different species from
the initially isolated pathogen), treatment failure (no response
to treatment, no clinical improvement, clinical deterioration,
or death from infection), treatment failure attributable to emergence of resistance, treatment failure attributable to superinfection, all-cause mortality during treatment, and mortality due
to infection.
Data analysis and statistical methods. Statistical analyses
were performed using Meta-analyst software (Joseph Lau; Tufts
University School of Medicine, Boston, MA). The heterogeneity
between studies was assessed by using a x2 test; a P value of
!.10 was used to note statistical significance in the analysis of
heterogeneity [7]. Publication bias was assessed by the funnel
plot method using Eggers test [8]. Pooled ORs and 95% CIs
for all primary and secondary outcomes were calculated by use
of both the Mantel-Haenszel fixed-effects and the DerSimonian-Laird random-effects models [9, 10]. For all analyses,
results from the fixed-effects model are presented only when

Aminoglycoside/b-Lactam Resistance Emergence CID 2005:41 (15 July) 151

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Duration of
follow-up

Table 2. Reported data on mortality and treatment failure from the randomized, controlled trials included
in the analysis.

All-cause
mortality

Mortality
attributable
to infection

Treatment
failure

Treatment
failure due
to emergence
of resistance

Treatment
failure due to
superinfections

Study

Mono
arm

Combo
arm

Mono
arm

Combo
arm

Mono
arm

Combo
arm

Mono
arm

Combo
arm

Mono
arm

Combo
arm

[61]
[62]

20/261
ND

21/230
ND

8/261
18/142

14/230
13/138

34/261
29/142

51/230
19/138

4/261
ND

0/230
ND

ND
3/142

ND
5/138

[74]
[67]
[12]

ND
2/144
ND

ND
5/124
ND

2/39
0/144
0/24

7/70
0/124
3/22

17/39
11/144
4/24

48/70
12/124
13/22

ND
1/144
0/24

ND
0/124
0/22

11/39
ND
0/24

34/70
ND
3/22

[21]
[30]
[33]

ND
1/21
ND

ND
2/19
ND

ND
ND
2/26

ND
ND
3/24

5/52
3/21
6/26

8/58
4/19
6/24

ND
0/21
1/26

ND
0/19
0/24

ND
3/21
2/26

ND
0/19
0/24

there was no heterogeneity between studies; otherwise, results

from the random-effects model are presented. The reported
results of outcomes of the analyzed studies were weighted by
the inverse of their variance with the fixed-effects model.
RESULTS
Study selection. We identified 65 relevant studies that compared outcomes for patients receiving b-lactam monotherapy
with outcomes for those receiving an aminoglycoside/b-lactam
combination. Thirty-six evaluable studies were published during 19801989 [1146], and 29 studies were published from
1990 through October 2004 [4775]. Thirteen studies were
excluded from further analysis for various reasons: 7 studies
were excluded because they examined perioperative anti-infective prophylaxis [16, 19, 27, 55, 58, 63, 68], 3 were excluded
because they were performed with immunocompromised patients [22, 69, 73], 1 was excluded because patients were stratified and received combination therapy or monotherapy according to the severity of disease [75], 1 was excluded because
it was a comparative but not randomized trial [46], and 1 was
excluded because the studied aminoglycoside was administered
endotracheally [43].
Of the remaining 52 studies, 42 were excluded after careful
review of the reported data because they did not present specific
data regarding the emergence of resistance to the study antibiotics. Two more studies were excluded because it was not
clearly stated whether the antimicrobial-resistant isolates were
of the same species as the initial pathogens (i.e., there was
emergence of resistance) or whether they were resistant isolates
of different species (i.e., superinfection occurred) [54, 56]. Subsequently, 8 RCTs were evaluable for further analysis of data
regarding the primary or secondary outcomes of our metaanalysis (tables 1 and 2) [12, 21, 30, 33, 61, 62, 67, 74].
152 CID 2005:41 (15 July) Bliziotis et al.

Emergence of resistance. Analysis of data from 8 RCTs that

were included in our study showed no difference in the emergence of antimicrobial resistance between b-lactam monotherapy and aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination therapy (OR,
0.90; 95% CI, 0.561.47). A subset analysis of 2 RCTs that used
the same b-lactam in both trial arms did not show different
results (OR, 0.66, 95% CI, 0.301.42). Figure 1 shows the individual study and pooled ORs, as well as their 95% CIs, for
emergence of antimicrobial resistance during b-lactam monotherapy, compared with aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination
therapy.
Five RCTs reported data regarding development of resistance
in different microbial species. The respective noted rates of
emergence of resistance for the main pathogens in the monotherapy and the combination therapy group were as follows:
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 8 (20.5%) of 39 isolates versus 10
(20.8%) of 48 isolates (P p .97); Pseudomonas species, 10
(16.4%) of 61 isolates versus 10 (14.9%) of 67 isolates (P p
.82); Klebsiella species, 0 (0%) of 22 isolates versus 1 (3.8%)
of 26 isolates (P p 1); Proteus species, 1 (6.3%) of 16 isolates
versus 0 (0%) of 17 isolates (P p .48); Acinetobacter species, 0
(0%) of 11 isolates versus 1 (4.6%) of 22 isolates (P p 1); and
Staphylococcus aureus, 2 (5.4%) of 37 isolates versus 7 (13.7%)
of 51 isolates (P p .29).
Development of superinfection. Seven RCTs reported data
regarding superinfections during the study period in each study
group. The results of the analysis of superinfections for the
individual studies and the combined data are presented in figure
2. Treatment with b-lactam monotherapy was associated with
a lower number of superinfections than was aminoglycoside/
b-lactam combination treatment (OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.42
0.93). A subset analysis of 2 RCTs that used the same b-lactam
in both trial arms also showed results in favor of b-lactam

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NOTE. Data are no. of patients with finding or result/no. of clinically evaluable patients. Combo arm, aminoglycoside/b-lactam
combination therapy arm; mono arm, b-lactam monotherapy arm; ND, data not reported.

Figure 1. Emergence of antimicrobial resistance in randomized controlled trials comparing b-lactam monotherapy with aminoglycoside/b;-lactam
combination therapy. The size of each square denotes the proportion of information given by each trial. Vertical line, no difference point in emergence
of antimicrobial resistance between the 2 regimens; horizontal lines, 95% CIs; squares, ORs; diamond, pooled OR for all studies. GA Study Group,
German and Austrian Imipenem/Cilastin Study Group.

3B) or treatment failure due to superinfection (OR, 0.60; 95%

CI, 0.331.10; figure 3C).
Mortality. All-cause mortality during treatment was reported in 3 RCTs, whereas mortality attributable to infection
was presented in 6 RCTs. No difference between b-lactam
monotherapy and aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination therapy was found for either all-cause mortality (OR, 0.70; 95%
CI, 0.401.25; figure 4A) or mortality due to infection (OR,
0.74; 95% CI, 0.461.21; figure 4B).
DISCUSSION
The results of several observational prospective and retrospective studies with different designs that examined risk factors

Figure 2. Development of superinfections in randomized, controlled trials comparing b-lactam monotherapy with aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination therapy. The size of each square denotes the proportion of information given by each trial. Vertical line, no difference point in development
of superinfections between the 2 regimens; horizontal lines, 95% CIs; squares, ORs; diamond, pooled OR for all studies.
Aminoglycoside/b-Lactam Resistance Emergence CID 2005:41 (15 July) 153

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monotherapy, compared with the aminoglycoside/b-lactam

combination (OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.280.97).
Treatment failure. Treatment failure in each treatment arm
was reported in all 8 RCTs that were included in our study.
Treatment failure was less common in the b-lactam monotherapy arm than in the aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination
arm, as shown in figure 3A (OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.381.01).
Additional analysis of data regarding treatment failure was
performed in 5 studies that presented information about treatment failure attributable to emergence of resistance, as well as
in 5 studies that presented information about treatment failure
attributable to superinfection. No statistically significant difference was found regarding either treatment failure due to
emergence of resistance (OR, 3.09; 95% CI, 0.7512.82; figure

and outcomes related to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance have not been consistent. For example, 3 studies that
examined the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in initially
antimicrobial-susceptible Enterobacter clinical isolates reported
different results. Chow et al. [76] (in a prospective, noninterventional study) and Lee et al. [77] (in a retrospective study)
reported that emergence of resistance to the administered blactam therapy did not occur less frequently among patients
receiving aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination therapy than
among patients receiving b-lactam monotherapy. On the other
hand, in a retrospective study, Kaye et al. [78] reported a lower
rate of emergence of antimicrobial resistance with the use of
aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination therapy, compared with
b-lactam monotherapy, although this finding was not statistically significant. Furthermore, 2 studies that examined the
emergence of resistance (among other outcomes) in patients
with pneumonia who received combination antimicrobial therapy or monotherapy also reported conflicting results. In a large
retrospective study, Kosmidis et al. [79] reported that a lower
rate of emergence of resistance was noted among patients with
154 CID 2005:41 (15 July) Bliziotis et al.

nosocomial pneumonia and among patients in the intensive

care unit (ICU) who were receiving various antibiotic combinations (including b-lactams and aminoglycosides), compared with those who were receiving monotherapy. In contrast,
in a more recent, large, prospective study, Alvarez-Lerma et al.
[80] did not find any protective role for combination antimicrobial therapy against the emergence of resistance in ICU
patients with pneumonia.
In an attempt to clarify the controversial issue of the comparative effect of aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination therapy versus b-lactam monotherapy on the emergence of antimicrobial resistance, we used data from RCTs that offer the
most methodologically rigorous evidence. Previous metaanalyses have studied various outcomes in neutropenic patients
and in immunocompetent patients with sepsis who received
aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination therapy or b-lactam
monotherapy [6, 81, 82]. However, these studies mainly examined effectiveness and safety outcomes without focusing on
the emergence of resistance. The results from our meta-analysis
regarding effectiveness and mortality are in accordance with

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Figure 3. Treatment failure due to any reason (A), due to emergence of resistance (B), or due to superinfections (C) in randomized, controlled trials
comparing b-lactam monotherapy with aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination therapy. The size of each square denotes the proportion of information
given by each trial. Vertical line, no difference point in development of superinfections between the 2 regimens; horizontal lines, 95% CIs; squares,
ORs; diamond, pooled OR for all studies. GA Study Group, German and Austrian Imipenem/Cilastin Study Group.

the results from these studies; aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination therapy is associated with more clinical failures, but
no difference in mortality rates has been found between the 2
regimens.
Our study has several limitations that should be taken into
account when interpreting the results. The most important limitation is that most of the RCTs tested a different b-lactam in
the compared treatment arms. Therefore, one may claim that
development of resistance was influenced by the different blactams in the compared study arms, thus confounding the
effect of aminoglycosides on this outcome, as well as other
outcomes. However, the results of the analysis of data on the
emergence of resistance from 2 studies in which the same blactam was administered in both study groups showed similar
results with those of the full set of the studied RCTs.
Another limitation of our study is that the available RCTs
comparing b-lactam monotherapy versus aminoglycoside/b-

Aminoglycoside/b-Lactam Resistance Emergence CID 2005:41 (15 July) 155

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Figure 4. All-cause mortality (A) and mortality attributable to infection

(B) in randomized, controlled trials comparing b-lactam monotherapy with
aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination therapy. The size of each square
denotes the proportion of information given by each trial. Vertical line,
no difference point in development of superinfections between the 2
regimens; horizontal lines, 95% CIs; squares, ORs; diamond, pooled OR
for all studies. GA Study Group, German and Austrian Imipenem/Cilastin
Study Group.

lactam combination therapy focused primarily on effectiveness,

toxicity, and mortality outcomes. These RCTs were not designed
specifically to study the emergence of antimicrobial resistance
and did not include the emergence of antimicrobial resistance
as one of the primary outcomes of the analysis. Subsequently,
the methodology to study this outcome was not the same in
the included RCTs. Specifically, there was considerable variation
between RCTs regarding length of the follow-up period and
the frequency of follow-up microbiological tests throughout
the study period.
Furthermore, although the outcomes in patients receiving blactam monotherapy or aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination
therapy were compared in 160 studies, only 8 studies fulfilled
the criteria for inclusion in our analysis. One may also criticize
the fact that all of these studies were published 110 years ago.
It should be emphasized that resistance is a continuously evolving phenomenon, and this fact makes the interpretation of
results from RCTs performed with a 15- or 20-year time difference difficult. In fact, our data seem to indicate that a lower
rate of emergence of antimicrobial resistance was noted in the
monotherapy arm in studies performed after 1989.
Another noteworthy limitation of our study is the fact that
genetic and/or molecular typing of the initial bacterial isolates
and those isolates of the same species that were isolated again
during the study and found to have developed resistance was
not performed in any of the evaluable RCTs. Thus, we cannot
make a definite statement that the isolation of an antimicrobialresistant microorganism represents, in all cases, emergence of
resistance in the same organism and not another isolate (different clone) of the same microbial species. In 2 prospective
studies that examined risk factors for development of resistance
in Enterobacter bacteremia [76] and Pseudomonas infection
[83], molecular typing and PFGE revealed that isolates with
altered susceptibility were clones of the initial isolate in 64%
and 100% of cases, respectively.
Despite these limitations, we believe that our study adds
useful information to the literature regarding the effect of aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination therapy versus b-lactam
monotherapy on the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. The
data do not support a beneficial effect of aminoglycoside/blactam combination therapy, compared with b-lactam monotherapy, with regard to this outcome. In fact, the data from
several studies do not provide evidence to support the widespread belief among clinicians that aminoglycoside/b-lactam
combinations lead to better outcomes than does b-lactam
monotherapy in various populations and settings. All recent
meta-analyses of RCTs that examined various outcomes, including effectiveness and toxicity, favor the use of b-lactam
monotherapy instead of aminoglycoside/b-lactam combination
therapy. Furno et al. [81] and Paul et al. [82] provided evidence
against the safety and efficacy of the aminoglycoside/b-lactam

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

Acknowledgments
Potential conflicts of interest. All authors: no conflicts.

21.

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