Patient Characteristics and Medication Administration
Seventy-six patients were included in the study with a median age of 9.5 years (IQR 3.6, 13.1; range 3 months - 17.9 years) (Table 1). Most patients were in the step-down ICU at time of enteral fluoroquinolone initiation (n=54, 71%). The median hospital length of stay was 5 days (IQR 3, 10). The most common admitting diagnoses were respiratory distress or failure (n=38, 50%) and lower respiratory tract infection (n=14, 18%). All patients had respiratory comorbidities and almost all patients (n=75, 99%) had tracheostomies in place prior to admission. Ciprofloxacin was used more frequently (n=72, 95%) than levofloxacin (n=4, 5%) for treatment of VAT (Table 2). Median treatment duration was 8 days (IQR 7, 10). Twenty patients (26%) received additional antibiotics simultaneously, with sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim accounting for over half of these (n=12, 52%). Diagnostic information is provided in Table 3.