Researchers searched the PubMed and Embase databases from inception to November 2016 for studies evaluating MRSA nasal screening and development of MRSA pneumonia. They selected 22 studies with 5,163 patients, for inclusion in the study.
They found that MRSA nasal screening could identify all MRSA pneumonia types with 70.9 percent pooled sensitivity and 90.3 percent pooled specificity. Additionally, the pooled sensitivity and specificity of MRSA nasal screening for MRSA community-acquired pneumonia and healthcare-associated pneumonia were 85 percent and 92.1 percent, respectively
“MRSA nares [nasal] screening is a valuable tool for antimicrobial stewardship to streamline empiric antibiotic therapy, especially among patients with pneumonia who are not colonized with MRSA,” study authors concluded.
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