Illustrative AI review sample — infectious diseases

Key Points

1Single-centre retrospective cohort of 205 Gram-negative BSI patients at a Chinese hospital (2017–2022) demonstrating mortality benefit of appropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy; small sample size, single-centre design, and absence of Kaplan–Meier survival curves limit generalisability and statistical depth.

Major Issues

Methods / Design: Single-centre design at an unspecified hospital in China with n = 205; external validity is severely limited and subgroup analyses (by pathogen type, infection source) are underpowered — several subgroups contain <30 events.

Results: Kaplan–Meier survival curves with number-at-risk tables are absent; in-hospital mortality is reported as proportions only, preventing assessment of the temporal mortality trajectory and time-dependent treatment effects.

Methods: The 'appropriate timing' definition uses pathogen-specific hour thresholds (24h for K. pneumoniae, 48h for others, 52h for Pseudomonas) that are derived from a heterogeneous literature base; the definition may classify patients differently from standard Surviving Sepsis Campaign criteria and is not prospectively validated.

Results / Discussion: The combination therapy finding (HR 0.94 in sepsis/shock subgroup) is presented as a secondary outcome but the 95% CI (0.86–1.02) crosses 1.0 with borderline significance (p = 0.047); the clinical interpretation requires more caution.

Effect of appropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy on mortality of patients with Gram-negative bloodstream infections: a retrospective cohort study

Key Points

Major Issues