Comparing the Intravenous Treatment of Skin Infections in Children, Home Versus Hospital

Summary

Many children every year present to the Emergency Department (ED) at The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) with cellulitis (skin infection). If it is mild, the children can go home with oral antibiotic treatment. If it is complicated and severe, these children are admitted to hospital for intravenous (IV, through a drip) antibiotic treatment. There is a middle group with uncomplicated moderate/severe cellulitis who require IV antibiotics but who are not acutely unwell. In order to determine whether it is just as effective for children with uncomplicated moderate to severe cellulitis to receive antibiotic treatment at home (via Hospital-In-The-Home) as it is to receive antibiotic treatment in hospital, there is a need to conduct a larger study and randomly assign children to receive either HITH or hospital ward care. The primary research question to be addressed is: In children with moderate/severe uncomplicated cellulitis, is the failure rate at 2 days following the first dose of antibiotic non-inferior for children treated with IV antibiotics at home compared to the failure rate at 2 days following the first dose for children treated with IV antibiotics in hospital?

Timeline

Start

2015-01

Primary completion

2017-06

Completion

2022-11

Publications

• Ibrahim LF, Huang L, Hopper SM, Dalziel K, Babl FE, Bryant PA. Intravenous ceftriaxone at home versus intravenous flucloxacillin in hospital for children with cellulitis: a cost-effectiveness analysis. Lancet Infect Dis. 2019 Oct;19(10):1101-1108. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(19)30288-9. Epub 2019 Aug 13.
• Ibrahim LF, Hopper SM, Orsini F, Daley AJ, Babl FE, Bryant PA. Efficacy and safety of intravenous ceftriaxone at home versus intravenous flucloxacillin in hospital for children with cellulitis (CHOICE): a single-centre, open-label, randomised, controlled, non-inferiority trial. Lancet Infect Dis. 2019 May;19(5):477-486. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(18)30729-1. Epub 2019 Mar 7.
• Ibrahim LF, Babl FE, Orsini F, Hopper SM, Bryant PA. Cellulitis: Home Or Inpatient in Children from the Emergency Department (CHOICE): protocol for a randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open. 2016 Jan 11;6(1):e009606. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009606.

Drugs

Indications