Comparing Actual and Rounded Serum Creatinine Concentration for Assessing the Accuracy of Vancomycin Dosing in Elderly Patients: A Single-Center Retrospective Study

Prescribers often face the challenge of predicting creatinine clearance (CrCl) in elderly patients who are 65 years or older and have serum creatinine (SCr) concentrations below 1 mg/dL. Studies have shown that utilizing rounded SCr would underestimate CrCl in this population, which could lead to the under-dosing of some medications like vancomycin. The current study aimed to compare the accuracy of vancomycin dosing using actual SCr versus rounded SCr to 1 mg/dL in elderly patients. A total of 245 patients were included. The therapeutic trough level (10–20 mg/L) was achieved in 138 (56.3%) patients using actual SCr. Sub-therapeutic (<10 mg/L) and supra-therapeutic (>20 mg/L) trough levels were observed in 32 (13.1%) and 75 (30.6%) patients, respectively. The predictive performance of different vancomycin doses based on actual SCr and rounded SCr compared to the targeted maintenance dose (TMD) showed a stronger correlation of dosing based on actual SCr with TMD (r = 0.55 vs. 0.31) compared to rounded SCr dosing; both doses showed similar precision, with ranges of ±552 mg/day for the dosing based on actual SCr and ±691 mg/day for the dosing based on rounded SCr. Furthermore, the dosing based on actual SCr showed a lower error percentage (69%) and a higher accuracy rate (57.6%) within ±10% of the TMD compared to the dosing based on rounded SCr, which had an error percentage of (92.3%) and an accuracy rate of (40%). The prevalence of vancomycin-associated nephrotoxicity (VAN) was seen in 44 (18%) patients. Patients between 75 and 84 years of age, those who were bedridden, and those with vancomycin trough concentrations greater than 20 mg/L had a higher risk of developing VAN. In conclusion, in elderly patients, estimating vancomycin dosing based on actual SCr was more accurate compared to rounded SCr to 1 mg/dL. The efficacy of vancomycin could be negatively affected by rounding up SCr, which could underestimate CrCl and result in the under-dosing of vancomycin.