The Impact of Continuous Infusion Compared to Intravenous Bolus Administration of Pantoprazole on Length of Intensive Care Unit Stay in Critically Ill Patients

Purpose: To determine if intravenous (IV) bolus pantoprazole increases intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay compared to IV infusion pantoprazole for treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding in critically ill patients. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included adult patients admitted to the ICU with GI bleeds. Patients treated with IV pantoprazole from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017 were analyzed in the continuous infusion group, and patients treated from March 1, 2018 to February 28, 2019 were analyzed in the bolus only group. Patients with pregnancy, variceal bleeds, or lower GI bleeds were excluded. Intensive care unit length of stay was compared between the two cohorts using the Mann Whitney U test. Adjusted analysis was conducted using the generalized linear model with gamma log link to estimate the effect of type of infusion on ICU length of stay. Results: A total of 145 patients were included in the analysis, with 72 patients in the continuous infusion group and 73 patients in the bolus only group. The median ICU length of stay was 70.5 hours for continuous infusion and 64 hours for bolus only pantoprazole (P-value = .577). In the adjusted analysis, there was no difference in ICU length of stay between the continuous infusion and bolus only groups (RR, 1.06; 95% CI, .76–1.47). Conclusion: Intensive care unit length of stay was not prolonged with the use of IV bolus only compared to continuous infusion pantoprazole. Intravenous bolus only pantoprazole may be used in critically ill patients for treatment of upper GI bleeding.