LAUSR

OBJECTIVES This analysis aimed to define the relationship between age and response to tigecycline among patients treated for complicated skin and soft tissue infections (cSSTI) and complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI). METHODS Pooled data derived from five European observational studies on the use of tigecycline (July 2006 to October 2011), either as monotherapy or in combination with other antibiotics, for the treatment of cSSTI or cIAI were utilised in this analysis. RESULTS The total population (N=1782 patients) was divided into three age categories: <65 years (804 patients), 65-80 years (836 patients) and >80 years (139 patients). Overall mean Apache II and SOFA scores for patients with cSSTI and cIAI were 15.0±7.9 and 16.9±7.6 and 5.8±3.9 and 7.0±4.2, respectively. Overall, patients with cSSTI and cIAI ≥65 years of age showed good responses to treatment with tigecycline (76.2-79.3% and 69.2-81.1%, respectively). Patients with a cIAI appeared to be at greater risk for all types of adverse event compared with those who had a cSSTI, particularly in the older age groups. CONCLUSIONS In these real-life studies, tigecycline, alone and in combination, achieved favourable clinical response rates in all age categories of patients with cSSTI and cIAI with a high severity of illness.