Colistin Dosing and Nephrotoxicity in a Large Community Teaching Hospital

Thirty adult patients who received intravenous colistin (5.1 ± 2.4 mg/kg/day) were reviewed to evaluate dosing with respect to nephrotoxicity, which occurred in 10 (33%) patients within the first 5 days of treatment. Excessive colistin dosing was frequent (47%), often (71%) resulted from the use of actual body weight in obese patients, and was associated with higher rates of nephrotoxicity (80% versus 30%, P = 0.019).