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Worldwide threatening prevalence of carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2025

Mohammad Hossein Ahmadi*
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahed University , Tehran, Iran
Zeinab Fagheei Aghmiyuni
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahed University , Tehran, Iran
Shahriar Bakhti
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahed University , Tehran, Iran
*
Corresponding author: Mohammad Hossein Ahmadi; Email: mhahmadi@shahed.ac.ir
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Abstract

β-Lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations and carbapenems are the first-line treatments for multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) infections. However, carbapenem resistance is increasing globally at an alarming rate, which is especially concerning given the pivotal role of these agents. This study comprehensively evaluated the global distribution of carbapenem resistance in clinical P. aeruginosa isolates. The keywords including ‘Pseudomonas’, P. aeruginosa’, ‘P. aeruginosa’, ‘resistance’, ‘susceptibility’, ‘carbapenem antibiotics’, ‘carbapenems’, ‘imipenem’, ‘meropenem’, ‘ertapenem’, ‘doripenem’, as well as ‘prevalence’ and ‘incidence’ were searched in electronic databases as the appropriate keywords. After screening, 160 studies were excluded, with 87 eligible studies from diverse geographic regions retained for final analysis. A comprehensive meta-analysis was then conducted on the data collected. The mean resistance rates (95% CI) were 33.3% (imipenem), 23.3% (meropenem), 60.9% (ertapenem), and 36.7% (doripenem). The time trend analysis showed that the resistance to meropenem has increased from the year 1997 to 2023. Meta-analysis showed substantial heterogeneity (I2 = 92%, p < 0.05) but no significant publication bias by Egger’s or Begg’s test. Global carbapenem resistance is alarmingly high in clinical P. aeruginosa isolates. The increasing prevalence of carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa is a major global health threat requiring urgent action through new antimicrobials and improved antibiotic stewardship to protect these last-line drugs.

Information

Type
Original Paper
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press
Figure 0

Figure 1. Flow chart of the literature search, systematic review and study selection.

Figure 1

Table 1. Studies included in meta-analysis after final evaluation

Figure 2

Figure 2. Forest plot of the meta-analysis of resistance rate of P. aeruginosa to imipenem.

Figure 3

Figure 3. Forest plot of the meta-analysis of resistance rate of P. aeruginosa to meropenem.

Figure 4

Figure 4. Forest plots of the meta-analysis of resistance rate to ertapenem (a) and doripenem (b) for P. aeruginosa.

Figure 5

Table 2. Meta-analysis results for resistance rate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in included studies

Figure 6

Figure 5. The resistance rates of P. aeruginosa to meropenem (a) and imipenem (b) during the years 1997 to 2023. Dashed lines represent 95% confidence intervals (CI: 0.2491–0.8040).

Figure 7

Figure 6. Funnel plots of the meta-analysis for the resistance rate of P. aeruginosa isolates to carbapenems: imipenem (a), meropenem (b), ertapenem (c), and doripenem (d).